Raven: Sirius Corvus
by Windwalker
Summary: The wise shall speak, the meek shall inherit, the beholder shall see. Sirius, the amazing raven, witnesses the events that occured in SH1.
1. Prologue

**_Disclaimer:_ **_The series of Silent Hill games do not belong to me. Sirius Corvus, the Raven, however does and for such time is solely my creation and under my ownership until otherwise stated._

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**RAVEN: Sirius Corvus**

"_Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore' " - Edgar Allen Poe_

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Prologue

Upon a ragged branch sat the lonely figure of a raven. A black cloaked beast with waspish eyes that reflected a street lamps glare into a thousand starts as it looked down onto the town of Silent Hill. An easy breeze fluttered through the street, ruffling the bird's ebony feathers, but it paid no heed. Instead the creature parted it's beak in a quiet sorrowful cry.

Darkness descended around this bird of vaporous sorrow, and in it's shadow the beast shivered. Something was in the air, a wind of change that the Raven did not like. It, or rather he, for Sirius Corvus could never truly be called an it. Had felt from the very first he had crossed the barrier that something did not sit well with this curious little place.

Silent Hill had never seemed pleasant in the way he had experienced in other towns and cities that he passed. Those other places bustled with everyday activity. People smiling, laughing, in joy, in pain, crying, angry, the slew of emotions that made man what he was. The people of Silent Hill however, did their business with invisible weights, their smiles rare and their aggression more pronounced. The pillars of human emotion here seemed dull, dim and lifeless. The weight of life appeared a crushing blow to them.

Sirius knew from a deeper well of instinct, even before his first sight of the lack-lustre residents, that a permeation of wrongness coiled the town. His sensations of the world were far more acute then the simple science of his species. He was gifted with a sixth sense, for he was no ordinary Raven, no common wandering bird. Sirius thought in complex patterns and felt complex emotions, he could digest and dismember that came from experiences. He thought as man did, by thought more then instinct, and as the darkness billowed it's great cape over the town, Sirius was thankful and also bitter for it.

The moon with it's pregnant swollen belly appeared to Sirius as a bright and unloving eye, watching with wicked intent. His feathers shook, but not from the wind or the cold this time. A chill had passed through him like a ghost on a grave, an ominous potent that chilled his inner coil. The oppression had grown to a near tangible substance, Sirius could sense it. A darkness more black then oncoming night was approaching, closing fast upon the town. It would soon arrive to swallow up Silent Hill whole. Whatever had been holding back could now no longer be contained, very soon now it would rise up like a thunderous wave. For the first time in his long and oft mysterious life Sirius felt the first inklings of true fear.

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_**A/N:** This is but the first of my re-written chapters, expect some minor and major changes in all others. The core basis for the story will remain. The others are in process and will be up as soon as they are completed. Thank you. __23rd May 2006: Removed more surreal aspects._


	2. Amisceo Letum

**Ashes to Ashes… Death to all** -**_Thunderbolt_**

_Bells of doom-begun singing  
As it had be sung before the creation  
In heaven it was when the light was born  
In Hell it is where the Morning star shines  
Closer the sin is than the purity guards  
The soul that weeps mortify in the insane confession  
Closer the sin is than the liturgy bitterness  
With shame spoken as the prayer of hope _

The air so fresh they won't breathe no more  
And no tear shall cure their dried eyes  
Dawn rises burning and brings no solace  
Ashes to Ashes... Death to All!

Wind demons started the dance so ancient  
To fidgeting in the strange air's vibrations  
Swallowed they filled everyone with the desire to harm  
Exhaled they murdered all those who believed their dreams  
Closer the sin is than the church of obedience  
Into the blindness and madness it dwells  
Closer the sin is than the fear of god  
That burdens the believers with penitence

To the heaven so high they won't fly  
And no wish of angel can stop the marauder  
Dawn rises burnt by the spells of Samael  
Ashes to Ashes... Death to All!

_Awaken by the blast of infernal rage  
Purification agony is inexorable  
Death... Death to All!  
There's no survival from the last strike of convulsion  
Even the sacredness is no longer eternal  
Death... Death to All!  
_

_No mortal deserves to live amongst the Undead  
So they will suffer when realize that virtue is higher damnation  
Bells of doom singing the mystical anthem  
As it let be written long before the creation  
In heaven the death's cold blade continuous the art of havoc  
In hell that on earth is revealed we Praise The Name Of Satan_

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**Chapter one**

**Admisceo Letum**

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Sirius shook himself from his slumber and stared blearily into the encumbering fog. In the far distance unpleasant noises sounded off. They had been sporadically going on and off for some hours now and Sirius took whatever peace he could between them to rest. Sunlight was now but a memory within the borders of Silent Hill, even the moon with its dark secrets had disappeared from the sky. Only a dense cloud of fog dominated the town. In fact it was even more of a ghost town and that disturbed Sirius all the more. As silently as the fog had crept in, the people of Silent Hill had crept out. Some he had seen leave by their own means but most others had simply not been there when he looked a second time.

Another terrible cry arose from the fog, startling Sirius, it sounded close. How he cursed it and his own unavoidable curious nature. Of course it was not just his species characteristics that stayed him, Sirius could not help but notice the strange aura that Silent Hill pervaded. Its peculiar atmosphere gave him a sense of duty to await and be witness to what was approaching despite his fear of it. Although danger threatened from just around the edge it seemed to important to miss. So he stayed against his better judgement.

From his perch on the lamppost he could just about see the street below, past the immense fog that had strolled in of late. Strange shadows parted from their immobile positions and scattered through the murk. Sirius dared not to think what they might be. Above him more dark shapes shifted through the choking mists and Sirius slunk deeper into his body trying not to be noticed.

Suddenly he caught more movement from the corner of his eye. It was not the sneakiness of the shapeless masses that haunted the streets but rather a crouched form that darted rather then slunk from the behind the large glass front of a building. Sirius, as far as he could recall, could not remember seeing the evil lurking shapes passing inside the houses and shops, but he was not above suspecting they very well could be.

With long trusted skill, Sirius dropped from his perch with silent, carefully controlled motion so as not to attract any unwanted attention. He warily glanced about himself as he landed onto the ledge of a window and was relieved when after a minute or two when he saw nothing had caught his movements.

Peering into the room through the glass pain Sirius expected to see nothing but pure, inky blackness. Instead the flickering shine of a small light could be seen far at the back. It eased his mind somewhat. The things that now roamed the deserted town would never use artificial light, creatures such as them seemed to prefer to hide and he highly doubted their intelligence to create light themselves, whatever they were. He did not need to see them to know that. The light's presence also gave him hope that at least one of the residents had survived whatever had befallen the town. Sirius with his cautious nature though, was willing to hold onto that assumption until he had conformation of the fact. To do that though, he had to explore his find further.

Sirius peered deep into the window to get his bearings of the interior of the building. The light aglow within it's own pocket wavered at the far end, peeking just above a large shadowy counter. Of the initial figure Sirius had seen, there was no sign, but they were there, he was sure of it. They were most probably lying behind the counter and taking comfort from the glow. They obviously did not wish to be seen yet and were too afraid to hide without any illumination whatsoever. Sirius could perfectly understand. Within this all-consuming black he would want the reassurance of a light to ease his mind as well. Even though he was a bird his more human personality was still in need of the comfort of a warm glow.

Sirius sat and pondered if he should take the situation further and discover more about the identity of the individual, or return to his former place on the lamppost. Curiosity was his staple but he was no fool either. He had not lived for as long as he had, which far exceeded the lifespan of any ordinary Raven, without also being cautious. Sirius's loyalty was first and foremost to himself. Would he risk his life to sate himself or would he leave the being ultimately to their own devices? Curiousity and a little compassion won out.

He launched himself into the air. With his highly tuned eyesight he surveyed the building for an entry. The building was quite old in itself, a lacklustre crumbling disaster. It lacked a chimney to his annoyance, and the owners seemed to have decided not to decorate the side of their house with a dish or television aerial. Over all it appeared quite unloved and unused. It did however give him one bright spark, a handy window open on the top floor. He took no time to decide, without due he tucked his wings in close and dived through it.

The room was quite sparse from what he could see. A queen-sized bed was squeezed into a lonely corner and a dressing table just as lonely in another. The room included nothing else except for a threadbare carpet and dingy floral wallpaper. It was as if the room was just for show, mere window dressing. It disturbed Sirius greatly. Of course, he thought, it could just be his nerves, warped out of proportion by what was going on, to make the room seem more ominous then it was. Chills ran up and down his spine and suddenly he could not bear to stay there any longer. Conveniently the doorway was wide open and he took its invitation to escape.

Down the corridor he flew until he reached a descending stairway. He paused, fully aware that the sight of such a monstrous bird as himself would likely scare the already fearful occupant. He did not wish to become the innocent victim of misinterpreted circumstances, so he took the stairs with caution.

The small light was not hard to spot from where Sirius perched. It glowed faintly from the crack of a door. After careful consideration Sirius chose to alight upon the door's top edge and peer through the gap. His eyes slit down to hide their supernatural glow as he peered into the room. He could not see much from his vantage point, even with the light. The angle was not to his benefit, but he saw enough. Sirius could just about make out the tips of someone's shoes poking beneath a large Oak desk not too far from the doorway entrance. They didn't move.

Outside the hollowed sounds of the creatures seeped through the glass front, faded but ever present. Sirius, despite his familiarity to the situation still shivered, he noticed too that the human moved in correspondence to the noises as well, a jerky and sudden motion as if contemplating the necessity to flee.

Sirius took a mere moment before entering the room using as much stealth as possible. However the in-closed space, from which he was not used to, proved a difficult job to manoeuvre. He landed clumsily onto the top of the desk. An intake of breath came from beneath it and the strangers feet slipped rapidly under. Sirius swore in his head. He stilled himself and debated what to do next. He had little choice really.

With a quick skip and a hop he alighted onto the floor opposite the desk. He kept himself alert in case he needed to move away in a hurry, but one look at the man showed him there was no need to worry. The human male was cringing in the farthest corner, eyeballing Sirius with icy blue eyes, nostrils flaring. He seemed too terrified to move. Sirius tried to look less scary by an attempting to mimic one of those jolly birds found on the cards human used to give each other on special occasions. From the stare of stark terror on the human male Sirius knew he was failing miserably. Of course he just so happened to be an enormous black raven, which was hardly likely to inspire comfort under the circumstances.

In the end it was apparent on Sirius's part that a little patience was required. The man was obviously too strung up to let his guard down. So in the end it was a matter of waiting it out and hoping that any lack of aggression or untoward movement would help ease the man. It took a long time as both man and beast looked at each other. It looked as if the human would never calm down. However slowly but surely the man's shoulder's began to lose their stiffness and his body began to relax. The eyes wide with fright grew calmer and soon the human male was looking at Sirius with calm intensity and a little curiosity.

A new sound pierced their silent regard and both jumped, startled. It was much, much closer then before. Sirius had the unnerving feeling that whatever it was, was extremely close by. With another startled jump Sirius caught the sound of tapping on the glass front, confirming his fear. The man himself paled to sun-bleached sand and his hands grasped tight to the lantern he held in his hands. In Sirius's chest his heart was beating fast, reverberating his entire body with it's thrumming.

The tapping continued for a short while. Whatever was tapping was slow and methodical in its approach and it grated on Sirius's nerves. Thankfully it appeared that the thing was not a very patient creature, it soon stopped. Silence reigned as apprehension of a return of the thing held the two in place, tensely waiting. Gradually man and Raven relaxed and returned to their regard of each other. Sirius wished, and not for the first time, that he could speak and begin to break the discomfort between them.

Suddenly the man leaned forward from his hideaway and brought one shaky hand out. With trepidation he reached out for Sirius. Sirius was no fool and watched warily. Despite the unified companionship from fear of their surroundings, he knew nothing of the man. In his experiences with humans he had learnt the hard cruelty they inflicted and of what they were capable of. He prepared himself to take flight.

The man's pallid face, hesitantly smiled, his lips quivering with held in nervousness. Abruptly he stilled his hand from its trajectory. The smile fell from his face as he looked deep into Sirius's orbs and Sirius knew he had seen the supernatural light they emitted. The hand was quickly retracted and the fearful, trapped look returned. The Raven sighed inwardly, that ever brief moment of understanding had fallen away to distrust again.

The very next moment Sirius was surprised to see the man turn away from him, tipping his head to the side, as if listening for something. Sirius copied the action, trying to discern the man's change of interest. Far off in the distance he could faintly hear deep, ominous bells sounding out their knell. It was rather like an echo of a bell, out of sync, it hurt his ears. Sirius knew that the sounds were not coming from this reality but from another realm, his innate talents told him so. Yet how could the man, now strangely sitting quite peacefully, hear it as well? Humans, as far as Sirius knew, were not prone to perceive such things. The question however was soon settled when the man turned back to him and properly smiled, no fear, no terror, only full of comfort and friendliness. It had an odd familiarity about it.

To Sirius's complete an utter shock the man began to fade away right in front of him, his body casting an ethereal haze that slowly dimmed. The distinctive oak panelling at the back of the desk became more visible behind the human. Even the lantern itself was growing transparent. Soon all that was left was the vague impression of a shape And then that too left with a sudden pop that sent Sirius, feathers awry, into fight.

He had seen a lot in his time, but this counted stranger then normal. He felt his emotions vying in his head. About him he could feel an energy, causing the feathers on his nape to ruff up. Even though the human was gone he had left a residue of himself. It took a short time to dissipate.

The man was a ghost, and not the first one Sirius had come across. He wrestled his frazzled nerves from the moments recent excitement before he considered it. Was the meeting with the spirit an accident, coincidence or pre-ordained? It certainly felt more then happenstance. He would never know for certain, seeing his path, where his choices led, was not within his ability. He could only assume, but he was sure more then luck was involved. After all, he had always recognised a ghost until now. He wasn't meant too this time. Why?

Sirius decided then and there he did not want to dwell on the subject, or the location. He dreaded what else he was to encounter in the town but knew from the deepest, darkest reaches of his soul that he was meant to be here. To be witness to the changes that seemed inevitable, in the one place that defied all his knowledge and

understanding. What he would see, he did not know. What he would meet, he knew not also. All he knew was that the strangeness that had befallen Silent Hill would gradually seep out its secrets and mysteries. After this experience he was convinced anything was possible.


	3. Exspectata Ut Abyssus

CHAPTER TWO  
Exspectata Ut Abyssus 

_I cannot see_

_Blind for all Eternity_

_My eyes are open_

_My mind is closed_

_Let me free_

_Let me go._

_-Windwalker_

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On speed of wing, Sirius flew through the stifled air of Silent Hill. He was heading towards the approximate location he suspected the bells were sounding from. As he closed in his opinion changed of them. They were more like a klaxon, a long, erroneous siren, that portended the coming of danger. He didn't like it one bit. Nothing about this place made him happy. These sirens were but the next in a line of trouble he expected coming his way. To find out why they were active was his top priority. If only in the hopes of getting some answers.

Suddenly a looming shadow banked across his path, out-sizing him by more then double. In desperation he veered from its oncoming path. The shock sent his heart reeling in his avian chest as he dove from his current path. At a glance he caught the briefest hint of some scaled body before his plummeting course took him further into the fog and away from what it was.

His heart thundering away he searched the air for any sign of the beast as he cowered under a street awning. Sirius was in no rush to meet it again. He waited and waited until he was satisfied the coast was clear. That was twice now in one day that he had been caught by surprise, a rarity. Silent Hill was definitely a place that set his nerves on edge, and it was not done with him yet.

As he preened his feathers for his next flight, a rumble and crash of noise came from up ahead. Startled in mid preen Sirius paused unsure of what he had just heard. He sat listening to see if he could catch a repeat of the sound but all he got was silence. That too shocked him. The sirens had ceased. Before or after the sound of crunching metal and smashing glass he did not know, but they rang no more.

Inside of his mind a sleeping connection suddenly awoke. Whatever was up ahead had set off his equivalent of the Spider-sense. Excitement surged up in him, tingling adrenaline through-out his body. There was no question, he had to go further and locate the source. Something long dead within had awoken and he wanted to know why.

He flew into the mist with renewed energy. As he approached his perception began to alter along with his body's reactions. Something was now tugging him in his spirit. As Sirius neared he felt like he had passed through an invisible net, much like a spider's web, subtly clinging. The falling snow changed it's tone to a cooler, clarity as well. Changes too subtle to the human eye were like great big sign-posts to him. Sirius knew though that it was not the world around him that had altered but something within himself.

From the impenetrable mist came forth a bright and care-free laugh. Stranger and stranger, he thought. That young innocent laugh was the first sign of a human presence in days. A child's voice no less. Children had been far and few between before the disappearances, a lot less for a town of this size. He had not seen many but there had been signs they existed and now this.

Sirius felt a little concerned. A child was waking the path of this dangerous place and by their laughter he knew they were unaware of the danger that lurked here. Despite his reticence towards human beings, he felt it was best to find the child and quickly before something other then himself came upon it. It didn't take him long to rethink his actions when he came across the source of the earlier crash. A battered car, beyond saving, was draped over a collapsed fence with its engine sputtering its last breath. It was nothing but a crumpled mess with glass strewn about. He alighted himself upon the roof feeling the hums of the engine beneath him.

Around him the snow was becoming thicker and harder to see, not helped by the already thick fog. Sirius was just able to make out with extreme concern that the road leading out of town was blocked by a strange wall before the snow blocked his vision completely. Now he had another mystery. How did the car get here if the road was blocked?

From within the confines of the car there was slight movement. Sirius almost leapt off the vehicle and away into the mist as soon as he heard it but by some deeper well of consciousness he was able to stave off the urge.

A man literally sprung from the car's interior, almost causing Sirius to go into flight again. Sirius watched carefully as the man ran from the car looking frantically about him, oblivious to the raven's presence. Soon he ran down the road, splitting the fog with his body before it reformed behind him and he disappeared from view. Sirius did not even bother pausing in contemplation before he once again launched himself into the now bitter cold air and in the direction in which the man had taken.

It did not take long for Sirius to catch up as the man had stopped in the middle of the road with a look of confusion. Sirius suspended above him, heard the man utter something. 'Cheryl'. The child perhaps? In his mind he cursed himself with various insults that would have made a sailor blush. In his distraction he had forgotten about her, and in failing his duty and decision to follow the child he felt sure that she would have fallen prey to the creatures by now. Not that he could have aided her in protection against them anyway.

Sirius was not able to communicate his knowledge to the distraught man below concerning the child's general direction. So that he may have been able to help her. Sirius felt like knocking his head against a brick wall. He was becoming sentimental over human beings. He never really had. Why should he be now all of a sudden? He had seen death and misery wrought down on them numerous times before and had not been bothered. He guessed the nature of the town made real life more precious to him then before. Life was so fragile here. Sirius shook his head and tried to detach his emotions.

The man meanwhile had gone off again farther into the mist and oddness of Silent Hill. As Sirius tracked him he heard the man speak again. 'footsteps?' Sirius listened intently and did indeed hear the patter of footsteps ahead. Man and Raven began to track down the source. They turned a corner and the man skidded to a halt. Obscured by the mist was a small figure, wearing a blue dress and sporting black hair.

'Cheryl?'

Sirius sensed something odd in the air as the little girl began to move. He felt …confused. He had little time to develop that thought when the man headed slowly towards the girl, calling out her name. Strangely though, she didn't respond, instead going deeper into the shroud. As if she did not hear him at all.

The man ran after her and the chase was on. Farther into the town they went dictated by the child. Past creepy empty buildings they went until they caught the barest glimpse of the girl disappearing into an alley. Sirius wanted to tell the man walking in there was a bad idea, and even if he could, he doubted the man would have listened anyway. Of course the human proved as predictable as the next. It came as absolutely no surprise when he went into the alley himself. Sirius, more curious then ever, and even though he knew it was a bad idea, followed. Lots of trashcans overflowing with waste dotted the alley, leftovers of the once, not thriving, but certainly populated town.

Just before they arrived to it there was a creaking of a gate. The gate pretty much stopping the alley. One half of the gate hung precariously on its hinge, on the other a rather uninviting 'beware of the dog' sign. Sirius silently begged the man to stop but to no avail, he entered into the other side as well.

The child seemed to know where it was going and this disturbed Sirius. He had been in the town for a while and he still did not fully understand it and yet this little girl, barely here five seconds and involved in a crash, and yet she was traipsing about the town as if she knew it by heart. After the experiences Sirius had had, this latest state of events and circumstances made him doubly nervous. Once more he cursed himself and flew over the gate and into god knew where.

Sirius cawed in indignant surprise. The last thing he expected to see was the remnant corpse of some unidentified animal. It lay on it's side festering away being eating inside-out by maggots and larvae. It was not the first badly dismembered body Sirius had come across but by the look of disgust and shock on the human male he guessed it was a first for him. That little girl had come through here only moments before and a sight like this would surely send such a child into a screaming fit. Yet there had been no scream, and no child. Sirius was not so keen to find her, if the sight before him was anything to go by.

The man by now was otherwise engaged, his body convulsing from unchecked revulsion as he heaved the contents of his stomach in a corner. Sirius found as usual he was glad he was a Raven and not a human. Ravens were notorious scavengers of such remains, not that Sirius ever partook on such meat himself, he preferred to dine on more palatable offerings.

Thankfully the man had finished, either through either pure tenacity or the complete removal of all the substances of his gut. He arose upon shaky legs, his face ashen and pasty as he involuntarily looked at the bloody mass that caused his violent reaction. That repeat performance was enough to send the man scurrying onwards and away from it. Sirius, his wings tiring, alighted from one side of the towering walls of the buildings, that overshadowed the walkway like two leaning giants, to the other. All around the darkness seemed to grow. To Sirius it was almost like drowning but without the water, to the man whose avenue of escape was slim it must have seemed like someone was slowly squeezing the very life out of him, sight dimming at every turning.

The next corner revealed another gate, taller and somehow more imposing then the first. Sirius tried to will the man through telepathy, a skill he evidently did not have, to avoid the second gate. The child was dead, or at least not here. There was no point going any further.

Sirius felt inextricably drawn to where the man was going, it was now beyond him to desert the man regardless, if he wanted to or not. There was a pull there connecting them like an invisible wire. Sirius was bound to follow and desperately did not want to follow him beyond these next gates. The gates felt like the edge of somewhere else, a doorway to darker things.

The man completely ignored or was unaware of Sirius's apprehension and proceeded on. The gate was much more aged in its creaking, vibrating the delicate bones of the raven. A weary, conceding sigh escape from his parted beak as the subconscious pull between bird and human became much stronger. On flustered and tiring wings, Sirius passed over the gate and into the twilight zone.

Darkness!

The black palate of colour had been heavily spread about here. Reality was dipped into pitch black. Sirius felt invisible. The man created some light to counter the looming shadows and stood bemused under its weak light. Sirius could see the twitching muscles on his face that looked ready to split into a scream. The Klaxons had begun again as the wretched dark took over, someway out of reach, but nonetheless Sirius shook at their arrival. The man had more pressing matters at hand, that of his missing daughter, who roamed beyond sight and sound of her increasingly worried father. Sirius did not hold out much luck for him. Little girls did not run and hide in places such as this without some crying or screaming. Her continued silence bode ill.

Inwards and onwards they went. The snow had turned to rain which no longer surprised Sirius. Sudden change was becoming the norm here. The man did not know this and to Sirius's frustration he went in deeper, the dark amazingly thicker then before. Secretive noise began to emerge from ahead, Sirius noticed them, the man apparently did not. Something or someone was going to once again alter the situation making the raven even more reticent and reluctant. He was pretty sure he was safe above the ground, the human was another matter. A little vindictive streak rose up within the raven, the human was on his way to possible endangerment and death. The man dying would release him from the bondage he had found himself to, and deeper still he felt the man deserved it for being so stupid and sentimental about his increasingly deranged appearing child. Sirius didn't like that thought, he felt sick at the fact he would even have considered it.

A disbanded wheelchair rested beside a wall, its wheel turning of its own accord. The former occupant missing. The unnamed man stood beside it, leaning in with his light source held in one sweaty grasp, looking more bemused then scared. It was an odd place to leave such an item. The secretive noises had now become more active and the man finally noticed it, turning away from the lone object, leaving it to the ink black, and peered into the unseen den opposite. Sirius took a risk and landed on the chairs padded seat, it was too dark to see from above now and that nasty streak in him was telling him that the man was the most likely target of the two of them.

The seat was warm to his dismay, like someone had only recently sat on it. Could the child have sat here? Setting the wheel turning through child-like interest? A shuffling from only yards away sent that idea fluttering off into the distant. The man shook violently where he stood but the look of determination in his eyes told the raven that he would still go on. Cheryl's safety a top priority. Just let it go, damn you, Sirius thought, but no the man was devoted to his suicide mission, more fool him.

The clicking of the wheel faded as they went on. Yet it was not the only thing that caught the eye. A gurney, covered in blood soaked sheets covered a familiar shape beneath. The man only took a cautionary glance, an urgency within him pulling him ever closer to the alleys end. Sirius was surprised him. Here Sirius was, a supernatural creature who had seen his fair share of the disturbing, ready to turn back while this man whose probable closest run in with anything of this sort was from television programs continued on. The human spirit was undervalued, Sirius thought, but it still made them do stupid things.

Sirius was in no doubt whatsoever now, that they had passed into something far darker and more mysterious then anyone had ever done before. The klaxon, Sirius noticed too, had changed subtly into something infinitely more nasty and bone shaking, altered into a musical diatribe, only possibly produced by the mentally disturbed or tone-deaf. An omen that the end of the route was near and the final horror of this monstrous funhouse of sick jokes was waiting. Sirius was holding out on someone jumping from behind a trash can and shouting 'boo'. A much more appropriate ending, he thought, to the other one he envisioned.

Blood spattered the ground trailing into the void. Ahead the clattering of footsteps. The human was finally showing signs of fear. His demeanour made it abundantly clear that he was terrified but those feet on cobbles gave him some hope. In looking for his daughter the man was beginning to delude himself, ignoring the blatant signs they had passed. A wire fence had replaced one side and more blood and visceral matter hung on it. The stench that had been lacking at the strewn carcass was abundant in this place.

The most gruesome sight of all though was only feet away. The next turning finally showed in itself the totality of the horror of this place. The tattered remains of what was once a man were strung up in a corner. Head down the man could have been considered merely sleeping but for the gaping hole of missing skin on his middle. The skeletal ribcage jutting out with lumps of rotting flesh hanging off. It was more then the man could bear.

He turned to run at that terrible sight only for the shadows to shift around him as deformed creatures came scuttling from out of the shadows. He vaulted back in absolute terror. Sirius, self-preservation kicking in stronger then it ever had fluttered in agitation to the highest reaches. The man below him had no such vantage. He took hesitant steps backwards as the creatures came towards him. The distance closing fast.

On short-bowed legs these monsters marched, their skin like the hanging corpse, as dried, brittle flesh. The heads were hunched over but kept track of the man, and on each of them they held razor sharp talons instead of fingers. They closed in fast.

A raised muscle and sinew arm was brought down upon the man, causing him to scream in pain as it tore him up and spurted the man's own blood. Again and again the beasts took their turns in dismantling the human. He crying out at each and every new wound inflicted. Sirius could do little but watch as they systematically chased the male down.

Bleeding profusely from a heavy tear down one side amongst other places, the man lurched almost drunkenly to get away. They merely followed him, striking out whenever one of them got close enough. Finally the human reached the safety of the gate he had entered this place, in a seizure of still born panic he banged uselessly against the caged door. For a split second a sense of intelligence broke through then man frantically grabbed the handle and turned. Nothing happened. He pushed and struggled with all his might but the gate did not budge. The handle useless he again resorted to attacking the gate head on, kicking and screaming at it in the hopes that it would open.

Eternally blocked all the human male could do was turn and face his doom. The monsters came faster sensing the futility of their prey, eager bodies swaying. A talon struck out forcing the man to his knee's as more blood streamed from a now badly torn leg. He screamed and grabbed it, trying to hold back the flow. Another attacked this time slicing away at the face forcing the man to grab for the pain there instead. The others quickly gathered, claws slashing and slicing. Flesh and limbs flew about in the chaos, the screams of the human dying out as his life was ripped away. Sirius creed in sympathy.

The connection he had shared with this man was abating, it lingered just. It was more then he could bear, along with the sight still going on below him. The man was lost, the child too no doubt. Sirius was not keen to find her. Alive or dead. He had to leave now, he just had too, this was all too much.

Darkness turned to snow.


	4. Igneus Scientia

**Chapter 3  
Igneus scientia **

_Borrow time and release an age_

_Read a book and gain an insight_

_Glow the fire_

_Burn the story_  
_Set forth the knowledge fire_

_-Windwalker_

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Screams, desperate and in pain emitted from within Sirius's mind, not the final cries of the man as the creatures tore him limb from bloody limb but the residue of suffering Sirius had witnessed in the past. It was a terrible sound to remember. It came upon him suddenly, the onset forcing him to land to deal with the rush of memory. Sirius had been witness to many, many deaths and destruction, but why would they now rise up to haunt him? The man's demise could partly be to blame for the rush, but never had being witness to mindless slaughter brought forth memories of earlier suffering. Sirius guessed his abnormal talents had something to do with the rise of such things, they seemed to have taken up a mind of their own. Sirius did not like this lack of control. He prided himself on his indifference, his ability to become detached, but some deep, dark and mysterious part of him felt otherwise. Silent Hill was bringing forth a side of him that Sirius barely knew, he felt dormant power growing beyond its sheltered prison within him.

The memories gradually faded leaving Sirius's mind clear. He sat there on his perch a while after though, sorting himself, trying to make sense of, him. His thoughts lead back to the man, a gentle tug. After taking leave of him, Sirius was returned miraculously to the snow falling wonderland of an invisible Silent Hill. It had taken him moments to realise when the scene had changed. The town was worse then a model on a catwalk for changing looks, so far he had seen three. The burgeoning shadow of a populated town, an enshrouded land devoid of normal life and the place where demons walked and darkness ruled completely. Sirius had taken barely a blink to examine the return of the disturbingly wintry in summer realm. Seeing monsters tear apart a human being made such things seem insignificant now. It was not as if he had walked across a clearly defined boundary, it was more like taking a dip into deeper water.

Harry? Cybil? Unspoken words carried in the wind to displace old thoughts. The names had no such meaning to Sirius, he had seen and heard the names of many people before but these held no special memory for him. Yet another little something his hidden talents decided to dredge up, unless of course Silent Hill had gained sentient life. After the past few weeks, and more importantly the past day, he could see that as a far likely possibility. No humans were abroad so he chose to ignore it, just another something to deal with later, it was guaranteed he was going to meet either one of them at some point in the future, with the circumstances before and behind him he would be surprised if he didn't.

Burgeoning noises loomed in the distance and Sirius decided he had had enough thinking time. With no particular place to go and the subconscious pull still there, Sirius chose to wander about the town. His own migrating instincts would direct him to where he needed to be, it was all a matter of following the routes his destiny decreed.

Snow was the only constant denominator here now, weighing down his wings and chilling his body yet he ignored it. Sleet, snow, rain, hail or sunshine had never stopped him before when he was on the prowl and he was not about to let it deter him now. Visibility, poor before was now to the barest minimum, only sound cut through with any success and it came clearly to Sirius at that moment.

Conspiring whispers carried to his ear, subtle and indistinct at first. He followed their direction carefully. The whispered voices brought forth neither comfort or distrust to Sirius, they simply were. His innate supernatural abilities did not flare at their sudden intrusion so he had little cause to ignore them. It seemed to be just another unavoidable meeting in a dot to dot picture, if he turned from their calling he felt he would eventually be brought back like a boomerang. All his choices appeared to be inevitable and intended. Why ignore them? So he followed, not eagerly, but nonetheless.

The whispering grew louder as he approached, however it appeared to grow in pitch at a too far increased rate then he would have expected. The voices remained indecipherable despite the increased volume. Sirius slowly descended to fly closer to the ground, from above, the mist hid all and sundry and lowering his altitude would grant him greater, though still limited visibility. The whispers continued to increase as he neared, coiling into his brain like a slumbering snake. Brief flashes of earlier memory flared under the weighted voices, combining and dissipating with each other. Sirius's head began to pound at the intrusions. His descent took a slightly erratic form as each unknown word beat their drumming into him.

' ----- '

' ------ '

' ------- '

' ------- '

' --------- '

' ---------- '

' -------------- '

Then nothing.

The voices exploding into his brain suddenly stopped. Silence reigned once more in his mind. Their faint signature still continued to call within him but these were more like echoes, fading away and dissipating like steam on the wind. With their passing Sirius knew he had arrived at his new destination.

Landing on the nearest perch, Sirius took to looking about him. The only object of interest was a large building with two pillars on either side guarding it like sleeping sentinels. A large set of double doors encompassed the entire front half of the building, a waiting invitation. A plaque on the wall with golden writing decreed the building as the Silent Hill library. Nothing else held his gaze as that building did, his eyes flashed their supernatural gaze each time he brought them upon it. Whispering and Libraries linked together in his mind, each often associated with the other, Sirius was left in no doubt of where he was meant to go.

The doors were firmly shut and there was no way to open them from Sirius's point of view so instead he arose and took to flight. Passing the entrance to fly over the roof in search of an alternative, Sirius heard from behind the shuffling of movement, inhuman, it sounded like the sly shifting of rubble, intentionally trying to avoid notice. Sirius dared not look back, whatever was about was not something he wished to see. A tentative thought came to mind but he ignored it immediately, he did not like it in any way shape or form. He was soon over the roof however and released a breath of relief, feeling he was hopefully beyond it. Sirius immediately spied an open skylight and without hesitation entered, grateful to be away from the shifting thing behind him.

Straight away he noticed the smell of musty old books and mildew, hitting his senses like a full speed train. It smelt as if the place had been abandoned for a long time. Dark light permeated the great hall he found himself in. Attached to the ceiling, old fashioned light fixtures swayed to and fro, cobwebs clinging to them while below row upon row of shelves covered the floor space. He could see the Doors and the reception area up front while at the rear blackness consumed turning the back into a mysterious void. He looked at it in nervousness, knowing he would have to enter the dark spot at some point.

Sirius moved down into one of the rows and landed haphazardly on one shelf, grasping it with his claws and leaning out at an angle. The smell here was stronger then above, dust too itched his nostrils. Sirius also caught another smell that he could not immediately place. For a startling moment he thought it was the aroma of rotting flesh, his mind dredging it up first, expecting it but Sirius uncomfortably familiar with that particular scent, disregarded it almost as quickly. The smell however still gave Sirius a sense of death and he did not like it at all. A place devoid of life was the last place you wanted to get the impression of death. The nothingness in-between was far more preferable. He chose to try and ignore it but it kept it's presence known.

Sirius made his way through the rows, occasionally glancing at one or two tombs of writing as he past. Only the sound of his own sliding wings could be heard in the vast room by Sirius. As he made his way he saw signs of old age. Books sat crumbling in their crevices, most with fungus and mildew growing from their spines. A few books were scattered across the floor, pages torn and ripped, signs of vandalism, perhaps squatters had resided here for a time. Sirius had never past the library in his exploration of the town before the strangeness so could not tell whether it had been in use. He assumed it must have been but the trail before him suggested that it was not the case.

His inner self chose to speak at that moment, concurrently with the sudden shift in reality. The dimmed light that radiated the room plunged into lower depths and the darkness that patiently crouched from the back suddenly consumed the rest of the library as well, the sirens of before also beginning their wailing at the change. A coldness settled in his soul. He could not be certain but he dreaded that the alteration of reality was for him. Before, the shift had occurred when he was following the man and it seemed then that it was for the man in particular that it had happened and the man had consequently succumbed to death's embrace. Yet he also remembered it when he had come across the ghost and nothing untoward had occurred then. It was a situation that he could not fathom or foretell. Sirius just hoped he would survive this reality better then the man did.

Something slammed hard into the front doors. An image of the man bouncing off the locked gate came to mind and Sirius jumped. The silence before was disturbing enough but the sudden sound at the door was far worse. Sirius dived into a vacated space on a shelf and tucked his body in close, listening. After the initial impact, nothing. Silence took precedence once more but Sirius dared not move from his hole. Patiently he waited it out. Minutes passed in absolute quiet and Sirius thought then that it was gone. He was about to vacate his spot, when he jumped, the doors suddenly rattling on their hinges from a new impact. Sirius squeezed back in, as one then another and another pounding on the doors turned into a constant barrage. The spacious hall reverberated the sound to larger portions, bouncing off the walls, turning the once silent room into a cacophony of sound.

Constant turned to persistence then frustration as each knock grew in strength. Whatever was trying to gain entrance was large and angry at being unable to gain entrance. Smashing glass accompanied the pounding as one window fell through, the tinkling of glass slivers as they fell to the floor. Then the next Sirius knew all was silent once more. His heart thundered at full throttle at the pronounced silence. After the initial quiet in-between the first impact Sirius expected it to return once more, instead he got something infinitely worse.

Footsteps tapped along, clicking on the carpeted floor. Sirius gathered himself. The footsteps proceeded down from the reception to the first of the many rows of shelves and books, a pause then they moved on. Sirius twitched at each step taken, eyes blazing yellow. As the owner began to near his location he took off from his hiding place and resettled at the very top of a bookcase. Sirius dared not go any further in case he caught its attention. He compressed himself into a small ball and eyed the corner where he expected it to appear.

The owner of the feet took their time with a slow and steady gait, squeezing out the tension in Sirius's soul. A cold chill from the now smashed window weaved it's way through the rows and made his feathers flutter involuntarily. Its whistling passage bringing about dark thoughts of the whispering that lead him here.

The footsteps paused once more, not very much further from where Sirius waited with bated breath. Time, stretched before, was now at its limit while Sirius anticipated the steps. In truth it was a barely a minute but it passed at a snails pace for Sirius. It walked on.

A shadow gathered force at the very corner of the bookshelf, growing like some unwelcome weed. Whispering began to stir up at its appearance, catching the edge of Sirius's hearing. The wind for a brief moment rose up and whistled in time with it. The shadow grew. Sirius huddled in closer as the shadow turned the corner. His eyes lit with their preternatural light. The shadow turned but nothing came attached to it. Sirius choked back a cry of dismay. What had been walking the library was nothing but an empty shadow. No feet to make footsteps, no body to break the window, no mass to cast a shadow.

The shadow faded and the whispering altered. Sirius aghast at the lack of an individual did not at first recognise the change in the voices his mind focused on the empty space before him. A sense of déjà vu and disorientation kept his attention away from it. Gradually however it soon took grasp of his concentration and he listened closely but with still half a glance on the shadows last whereabouts. Expecting a being to take form their.

The whispered voices held more clarity then they did before. Sirius could distinguish two separate entities in secretive conversation, voices held low in deference of those around them. Their origin stemmed from the rear of the building where the dark was at its most powerful. A cry from outside did not deter Sirius from his observation as he began to decipher the words being spoken. Sirius dropped from his vantage point, careful to avoid the shadow's former presence and made his way to the rear. The voices sounded young and tinged with annoyance, normalcy in the after- effects of the pounding doors but Sirius was not going to let himself be fooled, the whispering had brought him here in the first place.

He thought he heard footsteps behind him and the idea of being trapped sprung up but he ignored these for the sake of his sanity. The sound of footsteps did not return.

Male. The voices sounded male and young, youthful even. Sirius crossed the line between darkness and pitch-black, flying blindly now. Panic flared but for a moment as he considered being lost forever in the maze of sightlessness, then it dimmed. The voices helped him keep a rough location of his whereabouts.

The next he knew, a glow appeared in the dark, seeming just as lost as he but a beacon he could not ignore. Sirius felt like a moth to a flame and could do little. Bookshelves took form again as the light continued to grow but unlike the ones had left these were far different. Books just falling apart and randomly scattered were now ripped and shredded and strewn about mostly on the floor then on the shelves. Covered in copious amounts of blood that also leaked from the cases. The bookcases were not the wooden plain ones but were adorned with skulls and bones and metal, standing on gratings that represented the floor.

Sirius flew on determined not to land, eyeing all with a twitchy eye. A book with a strange symbol caught his attention, bound in blood red leather. An unpleasant feeling overcame him as he past over it and an image came and went from his psyche that left bile and the taste of something bitter and old in his mouth. Another book caught his interest but made him shudder, in a quick glance he felt sure the word emblazoned on its front was Necronimicon, but that was supposed to be a fabled book, unreal. Wasn't it?

Two figures sat crossed legged looking upon each other, mouths moving. Sirius came in closer as they appeared in his visual. The pair looked to be human. Two young boys deep in conversation. In a place like this however their meeting held a more ominous feeling. A book lay open between them, the open pages splattered with dried on blood. Sirius, though reluctant to land, chose a spot on a desk, made of metal but the most normal looking item in the scene he found himself in. Sirius dared not land on the floor, envisioning his feet getting caught in the mesh and being unable to escape any approaching danger.

The boys did not look in his direction as he landed though he was sure there was a subtle movement from one of the them, instead they continued conspiring. Sirius moved to the edge of the desk, leaning in to try and decipher some of the spoken words. The whispering stopped. Sirius was taken a back at the break in speech and took a step back.

"Watch"

The word come clear to Sirius. One of the boys had turned to face directly at him while speaking the single word. Sirius obeyed his instruction. Even without the command to watch Sirius would not have left, he felt strangely at peace, appearance aside, in the mutilated boys presence.

Taking the time to perceive the boy, fear taking a place at the back of his mind. Only one eye looked back the other ripped from its socket leaving in its wake a bottomless hole. His face was scarred and wrinkled and skin puckered and brown from being burnt. The other boy now also looking his way was not much better, in fact he was in even worse shape, neither of his eyes were where they should be, but were still able to bleed bloody tears. Both wore school uniforms with the Midwhich elementary logo on them, stained with even more blood then Sirius thought possible, and hanging loosely from torn shreds.

The fully blind one pointed to the open book, dropping blood to the paper. Sirius diverted his attention to it, only to see a blank sheet. He looked at the children inquiringly surprised at the ease in which turned to them for an answer, at the lack of fear toward them.

The blind boy did not acknowledge his stare, the other though raised one mangled hand to his face and with a blank expression proceeded to tear at his one remaining eye, neither rushed nor hesitant, picking his way as a disinterested person would pick a scab. Sirius rolled onto the balls of his feet and watched in subdued horror at the self mutilation.

The stench of burning arose and Sirius suddenly had the answer to the unrecognised scent of before. The smell of burnt offerings. The blind boy pointed once more at the book and Sirius dragged his eyes away from the continued self destruction of the other and looked upon the paper. It was still blank but the out laid page had begun to emit a smoky vapour. The smell of burning increased.

A pale red light penetrated the scene, a distant crackling accompanying it. Sirius's head shot up and he frantically looked about him. Pitch black surrounded them, but slowly climbing up its side was the first licks of flame, the bookcases no longer in sight.

Sirius turned back in time to see the open book go up in a combustion of flame, the two boys no longer there. Vanishing just as quickly as the fire came to be. Sirius felt the danger around him as the sound of the fire increased, no longer quietly consuming its surroundings but snapping and snarling like a cornered wildcat. Sirius knew he was in great danger if he stayed there, the man springing to mind. So up into the air he flew attempting to rise above the smoke that was cumulating. He tracked back the way he had hopefully come, not worrying about meeting anything, the fire taking precedence.

Light bloomed ahead and Sirius headed for it, the fire behind him building up into an incredible blaze. Sirius began to immediately target the open skylight, thankfully coming into view. The books sizzled and popped rotting insides below. A shadow hung over them but Sirius did not, dared not ponder them while the possibility of burning up himself was so close.

A burst of speed he never, ever thought he was capable of aided him in escaping a flaming tail as fire flashed up in a back draft. Below him now, everything was in an inferno, the rows falling into each other as the fire consumed their bases. The walls reflected a raging red colour and the front doors were now also being consumed in the blaze. Sirius with all the energy he had left, zipped his way through burning twisters and exited the skylight.

Into the cold air of Silent Hill he went, now safely beyond the burning building. Breaths coming in deep and hard from smoke inhalation as he veered away towards another nearby building. Behind he hear the continued crackling of fire but he was no longer in danger of it. Sirius landed hard onto an edge and held his head down gathering the return of his strength. Snow pelted his body, cold and chilled, but was a welcome from the heat. No more then ten minutes passed in his returning to form before he turned to see the last of the libraries walls eaten.

The building stood tall and firm and untouched. Sirius blinked rapidly in wonderment. He shook his head, looked away and looked back. It still stood there. There was absolutely no sign that a fire had ever begun, the smell, which carried after Sirius left the building was also missing. The only change of note were the two pillars. To Sirius it seemed they had been moved. Closer to the library. Scorch marks marring them. Apart from them it looked as if the fire had never been.

Sirius sat in reverence. He knew he never imagined any of it. His mind too perfectly attuned to make it up, nothing got past him, Sirius had a photographic memory, his talent insured the truthfulness of what he sees. He had seen it, something else just decide to change everything back. The two boys he could not decide were good or evil, his supernatural sense not repulsed by them, but yet they had appeared to cause him ill intent with his near death experience. Mystery upon mystery.

Sirius remembered the school uniforms they had worn. Midwhich elementary school. He had past that place before and knew its location. Perhaps the children would be there now? Sirius made his decision, with one mistrustful look at the library he went on his way.


	5. Vicis Juvenis

**Chapter 4  
Vicis juvenis **

_The cat walks_

_The cat talks_

_But what does the cat say?_

_-Windwalker_

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The familiar sounds of the Klaxons rose up from the blackness. Sirius barely paused. The constant structural changes of Silent Hill were no longer a bother to him especially after the library incident. Sirius did note however that the only apparent alteration this time was simply the lack of light. Concern momentarily flared as he thought about the fact that the alterations before had been for his benefit but his inner self the only truly reliable part of him, he thought, did not react to any possible threat, it was as devoid of warning as a lighthouse during the daytime. It was worth however to keep an open mind, Sirius did not want to be caught trapped again, the ghost of acrid smoke still tantalizing his sense of smell .

The sound of rustling in the darker areas kept him alert as he neared the school. Something scuttled momentarily into the light, Sirius caught the brief hint of leathery, bloodied skin and a proboscis muzzle before it darted back into a side alley, distinctly canine in appearance. An image of the earlier hunched figures sprung to mind and Sirius categorised the just seen zombie-like dog to the same list of avoidable monsters. A large similarly gruesome bird rose up from nowhere and followed after the dog the sight striking a sense of deja-vu, Sirius made that three.

#Harry#

The voice spoke with such subtly, a feathery caress, he barely caught the word, yet it contained such power he could not but hear it. Another mystery to add to his growing list. Sirius wondered of its significance and its arise now of all times. Time to contemplate it however came to a stop as the school's imposing self came into view and Sirius chose to tuck the extra information away for later perusal.

A howl rose up and Sirius jolted slightly from his path. One became two then a whole plethora of howls convoluted into a mass sermon. The leathered wing birds who he had only just espied from their vantage points, flew from their perches at the calling and into the night, adding to the howling with their own vociferous music. The silence that had so haunted the town was no longer in evident, simply shocked away. Gradually its initial surprise wasted away as it slowly grew to its former edge. The howls fading and the birds chattering ceasing just as quickly as they had come. The finale of this inopportune cacophony was brought about by the scream and slam of a door, from the direction of the school no less. Sirius cringed at the possibilities. It was a bloody unpleasant coincidence, he thought, with the sound coming from his intended destination.

Sirius landed on a conveniently placed bus by the school. Glass from its shattered windows strewn haphazardly about it while the majority lay within the bus's interior. Evidence that something imploded into it rather then exploding out. Sirius using his sensitive hearing, listening for movement, a sneaky creak or a suspicious noise but nothing stirred within the compounds of the vehicle.

The school stood prominently despite the darkness that sweltered around and Sirius swallowed in nervousness at it's very presence. He had to, just had to enter the building. Snow fell in a constant stream as Sirius flew to the school entrance, white streaks contrasting with the nightly sable. An open window gave Sirius the break from the heavy fall and he then found himself in an empty classroom. The teacher's desk stood to one side of the room, set with a blackboard behind it, while the rest of the room was dotted with smaller desks for the students to sit at. A bookshelf or two and a smaller sideboard set across the walls below the window side finished off the setting, and it was dark of course, to be otherwise would have surprised him.

A strange smell pervaded the air like a lingering death, it's very presence giving Sirius a rather unpleasant premonition of something bad to come, and like as so often his senses proved, it did. Stumbling from around a child's desk was one of the heinous creatures that were Sirius's first proper encounter since his arrival in the town, the very creatures that had slaughtered the only human Sirius had seen since the strangeness took hold of the town. Still looking as it did from before, skin taut with dried blood and clawed appendages that scrunching in anticipation for spilling blood. Sirius could not tell if it was one of the same ones he saw but he had no vested interest to take a closer look. However the creature seemed to have other ideas as it's eyes locked on to him and stumbled his way.

Sirius in immobile flight looked around in alarm for some high safety spot away from its eager claws and was disturbed to find none. The open window behind him was tempting but Sirius determined to stay and find the reason for his visitation. The only point above the creatures reach was upon the bookcases but the easily accessible shelves did not insure Sirius's complete safety. This creature looked absolutely famished for a victim and Sirius felt in its state it could probably even tip the case over, leaving Sirius squashed as well as eaten. He knew though that he could not stay suspended forever, his wings though sturdier then his crow cousins were unable to sustain constant flight no matter how unnatural Sirius was. His options down to leaving the school or considering an alternative before his wings gave way.

The beast stood directly below him now waving its weapons as high as it could, reaching for all it was worth. Sirius looked disdainfully at it, but with enough sense to be a little nervous. Moans past it's shrunken wrinkled lips, mewling and begging for its prize. Sirius flashed his eyes in their glorious yellow in an attempt to put it off but it only appeared to make the creature more eager for his flesh, stretching now to its fullest. With a shock another one of the little monsters made it's appearance from the farthest corner of the room and like its brethren made its way towards Sirius's location too.

A sudden bright light and the creak of an opening door and Sirius took his chance, diving towards the exit. He did not worry about the thing that was entering as he was sure he could easily fly above it. At speed he went at the door, wings tucked in close only to turn with a sudden chilled caw as he saw what had made it's entrance. A bullet skimmed past him, barely escaping it as he dived at the bookshelf the only spot he really had any protection in while behind him the quick succession of a gun being fired ricocheted off the walls. The most unpleasant mixture of gurgling and growling proceeded the gunfire followed by a bang as a heavy weight hit the floor at force. Sirius too dropped like a stone on the topmost of the bookcase, heartbeat rattling at an incredible exponential rate. An indignant pain-filled cry soon followed, this time proceeded by more gunfire. Soon the only sound was Sirius's heartbeat in his ears and the heavy breathing of the thing that had entered the room.

It couldn't be! It just couldn't. Sirius though capable of many magnificent feats had never before committed one as he had just witnessed, he did not even believe it was possible. Animating a corpse into some semblance of a moving human, like a puppet to a puppeteer was one thing but to fully bring back to life a human being to the level of sentiency of before, full reincarnation, was another. It had never been done, at least not to his knowledge, until now of course. Sirius dared to look back to the door. Standing before the open door was the man, the one not long before that Sirius had witness being slaughtered by the very creatures the man himself had only just obliterated, the man who had died in search of his daughter in this horror tale town. Now among the living once more. After a few moments Sirius sighed deeply, he was going to ignore this 'little' discrepancy, the fact the man had once been dead seemed immaterial now in light of recent events or rather he could not be bothered to be bothered by it. Strangeness was as consistent in this town as light to the day just one of those things you just accept.

The man was keeled over slightly from exertion but kept a firm grip on the revolver in his hand and looked around with wide frightened eyes into the dark, anticipating another attack. Blood rivulets snaked down his unencumbered arm dripping to the floor in their own little beat and a tinny rattling squawk dying away from the radio attached to him.

#Harry#

The name suddenly blared out from an independent source and into the front of Sirius's mind with considerable more force then it had done before. It took no bounds of logic by him to conclude the name belonged to the man in front of him. The walking, formerly deceased man in front of him.

An edge of uncertainty gripped him, the man's miraculous recovery had suddenly become more suspect. A cold, and sombre voice spoke within the back of his mind telling him that not all was right with this man, that something lurked beneath his facade. The twinning sense of before arose again like a vaporous tendril from the man. Sirius's eyes twinkled uncertainly at the man before him, yet all he saw, or what he thought he saw was a mirage effect so fleeting that he thought he imagined it. Oh, well he decided, the man did not appear to be threatening, with the exception of the loaded weapon of course, but rather nervy and confused in the setting.

Harry stood up straight, the insecurities fading from his face and merging into a look of determination. He glanced into the dark, swivelling on the spot for his torch to circuit the room but he found little of interest to him and abruptly turned leaving the door to swing openly as he departed. Sirius felt a connection like before but on his part it was more voluntary then the stringent pull in their previous meeting. Something powerful held them to each other, it had given Sirius a taste and now was wagging a finger seductively at him to follow on. It changed his perception, it was now no longer a need to know but a want to know, his curiosity piqued. Sirius had been lead here , the man had been lead here, their destiny once more intertwined.

Sirius kept to the shadows as he followed the man in remembrance of the errant shot aimed at him. Harry was on edge and anything that seemed out of the ordinary was likely to set his nerves off. A bird flying in a school would more then qualify for extermination under the circumstances, Sirius was all too aware that the man, Harry would rather be safe and shoot an insignificant bird then face any possible it appeared more then it was. So he kept silent and hidden.

Through the corridors they went, Harry taken the necessary shots against the walking creatures that overran the school. Blood and the stench of death trailing in their wake, making both Harry and his unsuspecting shadow forever aware of what was lurking. Harry's voyage through doors posed a mild problem to Sirius but his stealth and recently discovered ability to dim himself, a skill he discovered by surprise when a couple of pre-teen boys cornered him. He was trapped in a room with a ceiling blocking his exit when the next thing he knew the boys looked on in confusion and a with a hint of fear. Their sight no longer concentrated on him but rather frantically about as if he had disappeared. It was only after a minute or two of their increasing distress that he realized they could no longer see him, once again his subconscious side had taken centre stage. A skill he quickly developed through a more conscious practice. Yet it had been barely a few months before he arrived in silent Hill when he discovered it. At one point Sirius almost lost his tail feathers due to a miscalculation on his part, barely escaping the closing door but he could not blame Harry, he did not know he was there This also gave Sirius pause for thought. Harry had seen him in the classroom, the bullet aimed in his direction insuring the fact, but he had completely forgotten or ignored Sirius's presence afterward. How Sirius would loved to have had the ability to read minds, the inability to communicate and gain answers were a major pain in the rear at times. Maybe he was considered just a dumb old bird, shot at in a moment of panic... Yep he was a dumb old bird, risking life and limb to follow leads and stay in this haunted town. Useless him, following a former dead man. It was his own fault though.

Harry entered another room and Sirius came with him as always. Lockers stood in two rows, side by side in the middle of the room with more along an opposite wall. These however only came secondary to him as the sound of rattling could be heard. Metallic banging coming from within a locker. Harry paused, trigger finger itching with a shaky hand, his whole body in nervous tension. Sirius hovered curiously. A break from the monotony of opening doors and shooting critters. The tension in the air was so tangible that Sirius felt a heavy weight overcome his wings causing them to droop slightly under the immensity of it.

Harry walked around the lockers to the culprit, Sirius with the heavy sense of foreboding repositioned himself above him. A hand raised with slow and careful uncertainty moved towards the offending locker. It lurched forward suddenly from the contents ramming into it and Harry quickly pulled his hand back in surprise, half expecting the unknown entity to emerge with fangs and claws tearing out his hand in a torrent of blood. Mere seconds past and Harry laughed nervously. No doubt he was berating himself for his own stupidity, Sirius thought. Overwhelming dread gripped him with such enormity Sirius felt like he had just been hit with a ten ton truck. His nerves tingled with great urgency, his body quaked and his wings felt like lead. Sirius almost felt tears form in his eyes as he subconsciously supplicated to Harry not to open the locker, discovering the identity of the contents being the very last thing he wanted to do. However history repeated it's self.

Harry with one quick determined flick of the wrist unlocked the container and released the contents, spilling out a horrifying beast, a monster, a despicable demonic nightmare, a nightly ghoul, a birds worst enemy, a, 'shudder', cat. Harry brought forth an intake of breath and Sirius wobbled in his flight pattern as the feline jumped from the locker. It landed on its four feet, looked about with shocked and terrified eyes and leapt away. Harry practically spilled across the now empty locker, his breath coming in heavy, breathy gasps of relief. Sirius looked on, the fear in his soul the worst he had ever felt, more so even then the desperate premonition just before Harry made his move. 

A cat. A blasted cat. The most devious, secretive creature Sirius had ever come across. Liable to jump out in front of you without you even realizing it was there. Sirius had seen many a bird succumb to their viscous claws, he had no love for the beasts. This creature however defied its fellow feline, it acted suspicious. In the look of fright and fear in its face Sirius felt sure he saw the briefest twinkle of dark amusement in it's eye when it glanced at him, in fact he was positive. A twinkle that sent the chill of familiarity up his spine. A tabby cat in the briefest of seconds sharing a one-sided joke to it's intended.

The door creaked open and then settled back to its original position, the cat scurrying out. A moment passed then the sound of an animal in pain electrified the already tempered atmosphere. Harry jerked as if struck while Sirius shuddered, his feathers quaking as they had never done before. The quail of pain did not sound like any noise a cat would make, Sirius's mind wandered to places he did not want to ever reach again. He filed it under ignore in pain of death.

Ghosts, monsters, the walking dead, day into night at the drop of a hat, snow in late summer, almost being singed to death and here he was undone by a common cat. Or not so uncommon as this one appeared. Harry, the lucky bastard was oblivious to it, but then again he was ground fodder so perhaps that evened it out some what. .

Here they were. Standing in front of the clock tower in the central part of the school. Out on the quad that the schools corridors and rooms encompassed within. Sirius sitting stoic above the clock face looking straight down on Harry. Snow poured around them and the dark was still ever rampant. Harry, having departed the locker room, had picked up two spherical objects in his wanderings and placed them in the spaces required that stood either side of the door that marked the entrance to the small tower. Now Sirius sat and watched him as he stood uncertainly in front of it, tapping his gun to his hip in agitation and indecision. Sirius had become dulled by the town and now instead of wallowing in discomfort and reluctance, willed Harry, albeit wearily, to open the door and see what lay within. Just as long as there was no cat inside. One meeting with the oddly acting animal was enough. Sirius had still not gotten over his suspicion after being surprised by it and coming across it again was not high on his priorities.

Harry gripped the handle and pushed the door open. Sirius dropped from his perch and almost somersaulted upside down to get in before Harry closed it on him. They found themselves in a small room with barely any space to move and where Sirius could just about hide from Harry. Dimming or no dimming, Sirius could still be felt physically and in such close quarters it was hard to be avoided. The only point of interest was a shaft with metal rungs protruding form the walls on the way down. Sirius disliked going deeper, he was a high living creature, a bird not a mole, prone to a mild case of agoraphobia, his only main vice, but Harry had no compunctions and immediately grasped the first rung and began to descend. Sirius hovered in anxiety, waiting until Harry was but a blip of light in the hole and he too slowly descended. Flying in such close proximity was impossible for him, his wings likely to graze the side and send him plummeting, so instead he hopped from one rung to the next.

Harry was standing on the other side of a longer room, wooden walls on all sides. Sirius looked around with thoughts of cadavers on his mind, the room looked like the inside of a very large coffin and the bits of suspiciously bone like debris scattered about did not improve the image.

Sirens!

Sirius could hear sirens in the distant, so subtly had they come about he only just realized. This was not good. Passing through a underground tomb and hearing those sirens that mostly foretold bad things was not good at all. Harry even seemed a little shaken up by them. They were omens, portents and Sirius though resigned to his fate could not help but feel a little unnerved by them. Harry moved on , down some steps and ducking to enter a low hung doorway. Harry's legs soon disappeared from view as he ascended some different metal rungs. Sirius followed once more , scraping through another door that Harry had opened from the top of the shaft, remarkably similar to the one that lead them here. The quad once more stood before them.

Harry began to talk to himself while Sirius hovered, eyeing the place with a little confusion. It was a replica to the quad that they had departed from. Well not quite. Harry finished with the conversation with himself, mindless babble to Sirius, then walked forward to the very central part of the open air quad and looked down to the floor. Sirius closed in to see what had caught Harry's attention and on seeing it almost flew off when an all encompassing terror held him , a worse terror then even when meeting with the cat. The strength of aversion to it so powerful he did not need his clearer inner self to react, it filled him completely and wholly blaring warnings in bright neon signs in his head. A large symbol decorated the ground that was empty before. A circle with an inner circle, while at the very centre a large triangle, between the rings and in the triangle, peculiar markings.

Sirius had seen this before! He knew he had but for the life of him could not remember where. Yet the very sight of it sent chills and warning bells up his spine like nothing else he had encountered before had. Even the experience with the cat had not yielded such an emotional roller coaster ride as he was on now. No he was wrong. In the library he had caught the front of a book which made him feel the same but the look had been so fleeting it had barely gripped a hold of him. The sign below him and the picture on the front cover were the same, he realized. Something about that symbol called to him in a negative way. Harry seemed curious rather then disturbed by it himself which sent Sirius into a state of confusion. Harry obviously felt no dark connection with it but then why should Sirius? It was an enigma and though it terrified him so badly it was one he felt he must, absolutely must discover the answer to. Silent Hill was almost shouting it's significance. Harry walked on and with relief of considerable magnitude Sirius went with him, fully aware of the symbol behind him.

Wire mesh walls and floors and blood shed in the ton had returned in vengeance. Sirius had tracked Harry through the rooms and corridors while Harry also shot at the creatures that came in his path. They had come across an abandoned wheelchair, a gorily depicted door with cadaver sentinels hanging, bound in bloodied cloth and another cadaver wired up to a wall inside a toilet cubicle. The wheelchair strangely enough disturbed Sirius more then the door or the toilet resident. Or not so strangely. Deja Vu had set in again, the last time Sirius had seen a wheelchair was in the alleyway that had been Sirius's and Harry's first proper sojourn into the grimmer parts of Silent Hill. Its repeat appearance was spooky and inexplicable. The doorway despite its gruesome entourage, was still just a doorway and the hanging deceased just another dead thing, but the wheelchair and lack of passenger held mystery and implications of the wandering insane.

In the room they were now in numerous telephones sat on a long table nothing else lay within. Harry had tried to use them but had slammed the receiver down in disgust that left Sirius in no doubt that they were not working.

Harry gripped the handle of the door intending to turn, when, the sound of a telephone ringing made him spin round on the spot and gave Sirius a slight start too. The dead phone had gained life. Harry with jerking movement came up to it then removed the receiver with a shaky hand to his ear. At first there was just silence, then, a scared, young voice came upon the other end. Sirius had an extremely keen sense of hearing and listened to every word. A female child was speaking on the other end, begging for her father. Harry almost whispering, spoke the word Cheryl. The conversation was only one sided though, there was neither recognition or acquiescence from the girl. She begged one more time, fear and desperation all wrapped up in one before all too quickly she became silent, a dead tone ringing before it fell dead altogether.

Harry stood staring into the receiver tears glistening on the very edge of his cornea but not quite daring to spill. A look of hope and despair vying in his features, gain and loss, grief of the greatest magnitude. He gentle put the receiver back in its cradle and continued to stare, a tear finally escaping from his eye trailing unnoticed down his cheek, he then turned away, no doubt a little heavier of heart then before. Sirius felt some sympathy for the man but knew they must continue on.

Obstructions blocked the way many times and Harry with Sirius in his wake had to continuously backtrack. When on the roof in search of an exit, Sirius discovered the symbol again and while Harry scoured the roof he could do nothing but hover and stare at it, the second meeting still as indescribable and terrifying as the first. Eventually all paths led to the basement area and Harry and Sirius found themselves upon a strange corridor barred by a strange contraption. On either side a valve stood prominently and Harry seeing nothing else to use turned one out of curiosity, Sirius did not see any alternative either. As expected the contraption rotated with each turn of the valve and after trial and error by Harry the path was soon clear. Sirius peered in, it was the only place yet to be explored and the fact that no such place existed before the sirens sounded out made them all the more suspect, but there was no choice in the matter now. Sirius could have left by way of the roof but with the doors now closed that was no longer possible and Harry seemed determined to carry on. Into the breach dear friend, into the breach.

A wall blocked the way and Harry slowed in his approach, Sirius kept a safe distance. One gradual step after another then all of a sudden the sound of motors sprung into gear and Harry's body took a sharp drop as the floor beneath him creaked downwards. Sirius laughed inwardly at the look of shocked surprise rather then fear on Harry's face, bet that gave him a start he thought amusedly. The smell of fire wafted into the air and all humour left Sirius, it was happening again. The libraries fire blazed into his thoughts and Sirius was hesitant to proceed. Fire and brimstone, synonymous with Hell. Harry was on his way whether he wanted too or not but Sirius still had the option to stay. Sirius was just fooling himself, he had no option, he was bound by fate, by his own admission, by necessity, he could wait here all he wanted but in the end he must eventually go down too. A kamikaze, he was a kamikaze, god help him.

Harry came to a shuddering stop as the elevator reached the bottom, before him a large pyre flamed up, the rest of the large hall empty, obscurely carved figures on the floor. As Sirius reached him a roar came from one of the corner, inhuman, indescribable. Something large scraped across the ground, reminiscent of a limping man dragging his game leg, except of course the sound from beyond suggested the limping man was a giant. It 'was' a giant creature, but not a man, for crawling out from the darkness was the largest worm Sirius had ever seen. A heavy bulbous body held up by spindly legs in comparison. Harry below him pulled from his arsenal a shotgun, collected in his school meanderings, rather then the more familiar handgun. Sirius approved, this required heavy firepower, and a professional exterminator if available.

Sirius safe from his vantage point, cheered on Harry to kill the beast. Harry himself positioned his legs and held firm, fear radiating from him like a furnace full blast. Grasping the shotgun in now heavily perspiring hands, Harry twisting it in apprehension. The worm closed in , maw widening to such a degree it looked like it could eat Harry whole. While Harry exuded fear, the worm exuded what seemed to be pleasure. Sirius was not sure but the worm looked to be enjoying the moment from what he could gather through its minimal facial features and body language.

Harry dived out of the way as the worm darted his direction trying to take a chunk from him. Sirius in a moment of panic called out but the combatants did not notice. Instead Harry turned and using the butt of the shotgun whacked the worm with all his might. The worm did not cry, nor appear phased in any way, but instead veered Harry's way in eager anticipation. Harry dived again, missing the groping mouth by inches. Close contact was not working so Harry ran from the lumbering creature and kept his distance. It shuffled behind him not nearly as fast and again widened its mouth. Harry took the opportunity and fired the shotgun in its direction. Bulls eye. The shot found its mark and blood spilled from the worms mouth, turning its pain-filled screech into a garble. Sirius cawed again, this time not caring if he was seen, Harry was going to need all the encouragement he could get.

The worm was stunned by the direct hit, but only until it settled in, it was hurt. It turned on Harry once more and the chase was on. Sirius watched in concern as Harry replied to the creatures wrath with bullets, not even slowing it down in the slightest. The worm opened wide and Harry took another shot into it, the only score so far that had dented the creature in anyway. Harry quickly caught onto it and held his shotgun for the vital weak spot in the worms armour. 

Sirius sensed another presence in the room. While Harry was fighting for his life something else was in the basement with them. Sirius did not want to turn from Harry's fight but for his sake Sirius must find out what other monster was lurking for a piece of him. Sirius would not be able to stop it but he could at least warn Harry of an oncoming attack from behind. At first he could see nothing except the pyre from the corner of his eye and then, in the dark a shifting movement. Sirius closed in, but well above, in the air. There was a space where something should have been yet wasn't. Sirius's sight was obscured from its presence. He used his ability to try and overcome the intentional block and through dimmed vision he caught the sight of a figure, a human figure. A rush of understanding came over him, an conclusive realization that disappeared as quickly as it had come. He was, but for a second, positive of everything that was going on in this town but like the changing scenery it was gone just as suddenly. Whatever revelation had been in his grasp was just not meant to be, yet.

Sirens rose above the setting in accordance with the worms rattling death cry. Sirius turned to see a triumphant Harry standing before the collapsing beast. His look of success drooped however when the creature began to fade from view. Harry's head darted about in confusion until he too caught sight of the figure hiding away in the back, stopping him in his tracks and removing all thoughts of the worm from his mind. A young woman leaned against the wall fiddling with something in her hand not yet aware of two pairs of eyes on her. Suddenly she looked up and directly into Harry's eyes. She dropped the object from her hand out of surprise. Her face not quite fully surprised. Harry stared and Sirius appraised her with suspicious thoughts running in his head. The next either of them knew, she faded as the worm had, while the scenery about them reverted back to the basement that had lead them to the worm in the first place, without the curious contraption but a normal boiler. The sirens faded into nothing and Harry was left standing in confusion and Sirius with more questions then ever.

Harry walked forward to pick up the fallen item, a key, while about them the siren had been replaced by the sound of church bells. Outside dark no longer reigned, the light of day having returned with the fog. Up into the main part of the school they went until Harry opened the main entrance doors and walked into the town proper, Sirius on his heels like an obedient puppy.

Light, snow, church, never go to this school ever again, got it. Sirius was glad to be out of there. School was scary without the spooky beneath on top. Questions, numerous questions each demanding answers swirled in his head. Sirius was no closer to discovering the reasons for Silent Hills dark going on's. School was a place you were supposed to learn not come across walking dead men, strange, ominous symbols, cats, killer giant worms and teenage girls disappearing on you.

The worm was dead so Sirius could ignore that, dead was dead...the walking dead man, or maybe not. In either case the worm was not on his important list, the man, Harry however was a conundrum he wanted an answer too. His missing daughter seemed like a more direct connection to the peculiarities then the worm. As for how Harry came to be alive again, Sirius did not think that he would get any closer to that. Maybe Harry had survived the attack which Sirius thought had killed him, it was about the best he felt he was likely to get. The symbol, no, the girl. She knew or had at least some knowledge of what was going or more likely was even directly involved, her fading form confirming the last more readily. Sirius was not likely to get any answers from that quarter either. The symbol and the cat both gave Sirius a sense of familiarity, a familiarity he did not like. He knew the symbol from somewhere other then the library and the cat appeared to know him rather then the other way around. Sirius needed to know what it was, the cat he could forget with the greatest of reluctance but that symbol...

Harry had gone. Sirius looked up with a start as he came out of his reverie and noticed the spot Harry had been standing in was now vacated and that he was no longer in sight either. Oh, well, Sirius thought ruefully, Harry could not have gone too far, humans legs were not exactly speedy and the now defunct church bells gave Sirius an idea where to go.

The two blind children had sent him here, but had they sent him here to die by the worms greedy mouth or did they send him here to find Harry? Were they good or evil? Damn it, more questions. Sirius departed.


	6. Semita Plures

**Chapter 5  
Semita Plures**

_Find me..._

_Find me..._

_Won't somebody help me?_

_Find me..._

_-Windwalker_

r

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The snow fell smaller and less frequently then before, granting Sirius an easier time of traversing it. As he made his way towards the church where the bells had resonated from, Sirius kept an aerial vigil for Harry, leaving no space unchecked as he covered all corners. The church bell's hollow insistent bellows had ceased quickly but Sirius had a good idea of their locale. Finding Harry again was of utmost importance now, the events that had transpired in Silent Hill were ultimately connected to him Sirius concluded. Incidents had either been directly or indirectly connected to him from his first appearance.

Harry made his appearance through the front door of a house, spying from left to right before setting an even pace down the road. If Sirius had not looked down at that particular moment he would have missed him altogether. Harry was clearly heading in the direction Sirius concluded was the church bell's locale, so hoping not to maker the biggest mistake of his life Sirius decided to go on ahead. Whoever had been ringing the bells must still be there, he thought, but he could not trust that to be certain. Sirius needed to know who had struck the chiming and it wouldn't hurt for him to do a little recon before Harry arrived.

Moments later he landed on a lamppost directly in front of the building and could not help but shiver under the church's shadow. A church in the fog -filled world of Silent Hill should have been a haven, a place where you would feel safe, a beacon of light, where its holy veneer should have given peace to the soul but looking into its brick walls and coloured glass windows Sirius felt none of this, just a black hole where his heart was and an unremembered history churning in his mind like an angry whirlpool.

Churches were never his favourite places, they just reminded him of what he was not. An omnipotent creature such as he, for he could conclude no other explanation for his nature, was left to question his purpose. A sore point for Sirius was his inability to remember his origins. He could recall scores of men on horses charging against one another, ancient armies who fought by the sword and horse drawn transport instead of motorised cars in days of old but could not remember where he was born, who gave birth to him or what he truly was. His memory was mostly clear of other things but this. The church only gave rise to this frustration, it was place where sin was cleared, debts paid and a long history scribed. He had the sin of others on him and no matter how much he wanted to, he could not be cleansed in the sanctity of the church. He could enter it of course, but what priest would hear him? Most of all though, the church reminded him of what he did not know about himself and it galled and depressed him. His origins were shrouded in a mystery so deep even he did not know and on this one thing his deeper self had no answer to give either.

Harry arrived at the church, a blessing that relieved Sirius of his miserable thoughts, but he cursed himself too for not taking the opportunity to find out about the mysterious person, instead of thinking thoughts he tried so often not to. Intending to rectify the situation he followed Harry as he entered the church.

The fog permeated the air to a lesser degree within the church then out but it still clung on mercilessly. The church itself was quite small and only a few pews dominated the floor. Sirius only gave them a cursory glance however as something of greater importance at the altar caught his full attention. Turning casually at the sound of the double doors closing behind Harry was a woman. Certainly no fresh maiden as Sirius could see but he guessed the woman looked prematurely older then her actual age. Behind her a cross depicting the crucifying and martyrdom of Christ, cast a shadow over her, herself with bare feet, a tie and a mesh shawl over her head giving Sirius a curious picture. She gave him the creeps. Her looks seemed to disguise her true nature for Sirius felt waves of something darker spewing forth. Of course her very presence in the throws of this nefarious plot, the only person besides Harry, Cheryl and the peculiar girl-woman Sirius had seen walking this ghost town, only confirmed his suspicions that not all was at it seemed with woman before him, for none of the others were ordinary in their own right.

Harry approached the woman.

" Were you ringing that bell?"

"I've been expecting you. It was foretold by Gyromancy"

Sirius could not help but cringe at the woman's voice, it was as though the bad vibe Sirius got from her came forth in her speech, hitching a ride on breath like death. The imaging was not welcome but he could not withhold it as she first spoke, and Gyromancy that word more then any other brought the vaguest recognition.

" What are you talking about? "

Something, Sirius thought, something important but no light was forthcoming. A chill then ran up his spine but not from what the woman said, something else, beyond his current ken.

" I'd knew you'd come. You want the girl right?"

"The girl? You're talking about Cheryl?"

Bam! Sirius knew the woman would know something but this? He tried to listen more intently but a strange feeling kept him from his full attention. The feeling of being watched distracted him, yet a not entirely bad one, more like being observed rather then preyed upon. He eyed the church's limited room but nothing came to his notice at least not in his direct line of sight, but on the periphery shadows seemed off to him, out of sorts.

" I see everything "

"You know something? Tell me!"

Harry attempted to walk forward and in spite of his wariness of the rest of the surroundings Sirius noticed the tension building up in Harry's shoulders.

" Stay back. Nothing is to be gained by floundering about at random. You must follow the path. The path of the hermit concealed by flauros."

The deeper the conversation got the more Sirius got edgy. It was heading into deeper waters and the woman was most certainly in knowing about at least some matters, significant ones. Hermit seemed an accurate description of Harry to Sirius, a traveller in search of truth. Yet Sirius knew its reverse meaning too, of going astray, in the wrong direction, also a trait he could apply to Harry. So many interpretations but that came to a crashing halt as the old woman mentioned flauros. The word spiked more recognition in Sirius's brain, so much so that even his secretive side tingled in remote understanding. It was a word that inspired a powerful force of its own, Sirius had heard of it before, a vague recollection of symbols and foreboding.

Sirius could not claim to know the entirety of knowledge in the world but he had seen and heard enough that he felt troubled by the Flauros mentioned. His thoughts were all for naught though as a shadow cast on the seating, he had ignored as nothing more then just a shadow solidified into a cohesive shape. The next he knew the pews were filled with people. Ethereal, impassive, ghosts. Sitting and watching the interaction between Harry and the woman, sitting quietly, watching. Their appearance coming upon him suddenly. A brief glance at the conversing pair told him that only he could see the silent audience.

Out of his shocked revere Sirius caught the mentioning of a hospital but most of his eye was concentrated on the spirits below him. The children from the library! Sirius clearly recognized them from their blood splattered, and now badly burned clothes, no longer obvious as the Midwich school uniform, adorning their pitiable skeletal bodies. Only children, dead and pathetic looking, but only children. Even from the back without having to look upon their sightless eyes he knew them. These were not the only people he remembered for sitting away in one corner at the front was the first ghost Sirius had seen in town, the one hiding away in the shop, the one who faded right before him as the sirens broke their first tune to Sirius's ears. This one he knew for he looked right at Sirius, with no fear or hesitation in his face as was in their first ever meeting but with that enigmatic smile he departed Sirius with. His eye, for his other was well hid by bushy hair, was no longer the icy blue Sirius remembered them by, but a sickly green, as though the ghost suffered from an afterlife illness that ripped the one lively part the ghost had.

Harry was on his own, not counting Sirius or the thirty odd ghosts, for the old woman had departed elsewhere. He picked up the items the woman had left for him, tried the door she had left by, examined the church then left the way he came, all the while the ghosts following him with their heads. Sirius had no choice to follow Harry or he would be trapped with the curious but strangely neutral ghosts, but as he glanced back something else caught his eye. Apart from the smiling ghost, not one ghost had eyes to see. All were as blind as the two boys. Pools of blood in their sockets where their eyes were supposed to be.

Sirius kept a close eye on Harry as he crossed over the bridge, thoughts of ghosts and other things were on his mind, until the sharp sound of the radio leaping to life caught his attention instead. Its rattling call made Harry jerk to a halt and remove the gun shoved in his belt. Only fog loomed ahead, neither Sirius nor Harry that far on the bridge to even make the slightest distinguished shape of a building. The radio's signal became more insistent as a lumbering dog came into view, its hide pock marked with maggot infested flesh. Harry, knowing better then to pause, took aim and fired.

Blood splattered the pavement as the dog's back leg was severed, no cry of pain came from it's lips but a angry snarl uncaring of the pain. Harry took a second shot and the dogs muzzle blew apart yet it still approached. The tinny rattle of the radio took new life as Harry vaporized the demon mutt. A voice called under it's cry.

Fin... ...e

...ear... ...hi...

Find ...se...

...re ...t.. ..o.. ...at...

Harry heard nothing as he was currently occupied with the beast, but Sirius did.

The only word he gathered was find, the rest obscured by radio interference.

Find what?

The girl, Cheryl?

The other girl?

Answers?

The old woman?

Sirius had no clue but someone or something wanted him or Harry to look, to discover, what, he did not know. It could even be someone evil speaking but the radio had only been a positive force warning of oncoming danger, it was the only thing Sirius trusted in all the chaos so he doubted an evil presence was behind the voice. It mattered little, Sirius did not know what to find anyway.

Harry headed off once more, gun at the ready. A howl not that far ahead.

To Sirius the mist seemed to spring to life, its ethereal beauty, with its darker undercurrents, thickened. A tightening rope around Sirius neck that suffocated him to darkening sight. Below, where Harry had been a recognisable shape was now cloyed into the vaguest of shadows, objects and human harder to distinguish between each other. A grave howl arose in the air followed by a deeper chattering rumble, distracting Sirius. When he looked back down again from his aerial vantage the fog's partial consumption was complete. Harry had vanished into the sea of mist.

Not A problem, Sirius thought.

Harry was heading to the hospital, all Sirius had to do was find it himself. As he circled trying to define at least one thing below him, the continued cries of the dog and the other thing kept him alert, both had since been joined by more, in a chorus of blood lust.

It had seemed like hours since someone with the fog machine had gone overboard. Sirius felt like he had been going in circles. Fatigue, a rare thing for him to suffer from had settled into his bones. Time had not stopped but appeared to have gone altogether, leaving Sirius in a void, and looking around it appeared just that. Even the creatures had now ceased their cry. He was all alone and that more then anything sapped his strength.

Sirius had flown close to the ground and even the buildings were hiding from him. Just as he was about to give up his search the fog cleared and there right before him was a woman. Sirius skidded to a halt mid air and rose slightly to hover above her. Luckily she was turned away from Sirius, otherwise she would have got an eye full of a raven with glowing yellow eyes flying straight at her.

She stood in indecision, twiddling the handle of a gun. One hand went to brush through her short hair pulling loose blonde strands, then wiped it absently on her shirt, a blue police issued one. A cop in this town? A bit late wasn't she?

Whatever turmoil was in her mind had gone, she strode down the street with a purpose. Sirius glanced about, the fog had miraculously cleared to it's usual self. He could now go find the hospital with relative ease. Instead he followed the woman cop.

He was soon lead to the local police station but before he could follow the woman she vanished into the building. Dismayed, Sirius landed on one of the cars parked outside. He could wait here for her to return or he could go find Harry. Time back now, was very short, Sirius could no longer dally. He cocked his head in contemplation, then chose to do a quick scan of the station before making his way to the hospital.

Sirius was in luck, he caught the barest sighting of blue in a ceiling window so flew to land on the window's glass. He peered into the glass and standing there was indeed the cop. Scanning the small room she was in, with a cops eye. A small crack at a corner of the window pane allowed him to hear the woman as she explored the room. She peered anxiously at a blackboard and read the words that were written.

" Product only available in selected areas of Silent Hill. Raw material is White Claudia, a plant peculiar to the region. Manufactured here? Dealer equals manufacturer? "

" Same old. So what the hell was that new evidence Captain Baxter was on about? Sure as hell doesn't mention it here. Could be in this junk."

The cop turned to the desk next to her and began rummaging through the papers on its surface. Only pausing when she found something of interest.

" Coroner seals called. Officer Gucci is unlikely to be murdered. He apparently died naturally. But, medical records show Officer Gucci had no symptoms of heart disease."

She frowned.

" Weirder and weirder. As soon as I find him, or anyone else for that matter, Baxter better have some news. What has been going on in this town? Cybil, what have you got yourself into?"

Cybil? That was the name Sirius had heard a while before, when Harry's name had come up too. Sirius mentally patted his mysterious self. Good boy, he thought. He saw Cybil leave the room, having exhausted it of information. Sirius had no clue what that White Claudia was about but it was police business and nothing to do with him and as for the death of that Officer, that was even less important.

Cybil was after clues against the criminal element. Sirius decided he had little purpose in following that lead so instead of waiting for the cop, to leave, he went in search of the hospital.

The fog was no longer hampering his vision so the hospital was easy to spot, not being very far from the police station, and lo and behold Sirius's luck continued to role for there was Harry circling the building for a way to get in. Sirius darted there in seconds. Harry had found a way in, for a high gate stood ajar by the side of the building. Muffled shots filled the air and Sirius saw what lay beyond, within the courtyard of the hospital. Harry on the ground had no clue of what he was about to be involved in.


	7. Reproba Rememdium

**Chapter 6  
Reproba Rememdium **

_Follow me, down the road less traveled_

_Follow me on the road of old_

_Follow me to see the path_

_Follow me to the dark and cold._

_-Windwalker_

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Harry found himself set upon by one of the horror hounds that lurked in the town, it's jaws widening as it launched itself at him, burying them deep into Harry's shoulder. Harry cried out in pain and anger as it dug deep into his flesh, with a heavy shove he dislocated the creature from it's mauling but was only able to send it a short distance. The canine twisted mid air and landed on it's feet almost facing Harry again. It circled outwards then turned to leap again. Harry produced the handgun he possessed and shot the beast stopping it in the second assault. The dog shuddered but did not still, snarling and spitting blood as it shook off the bullet's penetration.

Sirius looked on in alarm as another hound that had been prowling about the hospital courtyard appeared from the shadowy depths at the back, attracted to either the sound of the gun or the smell of haemoglobin. Luckily Harry had seen it too, wasting no time in pummelling the first creature with bullets even as the other launched it's own attack. The gun was swung the other's way, a new flow of bullets hitting it whilst in mid air. The dog's momentum was reversed and it slid along the ground howling out in rage as it's life blood spread along the concrete. It attempted to rise but collapsed almost immediately afterwards reddening the ground further as the rattling of it's breath stilled.

By now the killing of such things was moot and Harry took no time in watching the corpses in shocked surprise, he was well passed that stage. Sirius however expected Harry to look around the courtyard instead of aiming straight for one of the doors leading into the hospital. A startled cry emanated from his beak as he flew after but he had paused too long. The door slammed shut behind Harry and Sirius in his rush could not veer in time. His trajectory sent him sprawling into the door, expecting to find himself delirious and disorientated on the ground but Sirius found it as a complete surprise when his path was not blocked. He went sprawling right through the wood his wings under the shock wobbling mightily as Sirius crashed into the wall inside the hospital and feeling the bumps and bruising he expected with the door.

Sirius sat stunned where he was , too dazed to really pay attention to Harry who looked bemused and warily into the reception area looking at the desk to his left rather then Sirius who could not have been more obvious sitting there in ruffled feathers and surprise. Sirius turned his head slowly to watch the man, his eyesight skewed and fuzzy. Harry did not appear to have noticed his rather shameful entrance nor felt the caress of interrupted air. Sirius in his fogged brain could not tell if the guy was dense or had truly been unaware of his clumsy arrival.

Sirius shook himself off quickly and dived under a nearby table when he saw Harry turning his way. He did not want to be seen especially while Harry had just been in shooting.

As he heard the man walking the sterile floor he considered his new skill. They had been turning up at an increasing frequency of late, at the earliest of his remembrance Sirius had been able to do very little beyond the normal skills of an ordinary bird. Admittedly he could still think as clearly as a human but beyond that, nothing. His eye's shine had grown in intensity over the course of his lifetime and as he flitted about the world his hidden self had grown more vocal giving him precognitive warnings among other things. Following on his hearing had grown but these had occurred over a century and more, while in mere decades he had discovered his ability to dim himself, had begun to see spirits more and more, began getting information pop into his head seemingly from nowhere, had a remote ability to hypnotize but never attempted on humans, a limited ability to read minds and now he could supposedly fly through doors. Sirius was getting more powerful and faster. If it was in culmination of his visiting Silent Hill he could never be sure.

Sirius did not know if he could repeat what he had just achieved but his sore collision with the wall gave him suspect that he would only ever achieve the ability to pass through at least doors rather then walls. Now however was not the time to test it, things were becoming far too important and serious for him to take risks but it was always an option if he became stuck, but until then he would continue to follow Harry and dim himself instead. Flying through doors was preferable but still, better a tried and tested solution then another sore head.

Harry turned the u-bend in reception and came to a crashing halt as the sound of gunshots filled the air. Sirius watched with his glowing eyes beneath the table, anticipating a run from Harry. A second later and Harry hastened from where he stood, jogging down the corridor, to a door, where beyond the source of the gunshots came from. Sirius dived from beneath the table and flew behind on his ever silent wings just as Harry stormed into the room.

On consideration rushing into a potentially volatile scenario was not such a clever idea. The corpse of one of the scaled flying creatures lay inert on the floor while a man whose face was hidden looked up from his kill, his gun hanging loosely in his hands. His face when it came into view was haggard and looked a little lost, his features of a man on the end of middle age.

The bad idea came to fruition when he suddenly rose from his seat and took shots at poor Harry. Sirius, still dimmed, flew off into the room to avoid being shot himself.

Harry ducked and covered his head as a shot was aimed his way. Luckily for him the other man's shot went wide of the mark

"Stop don't shoot"

Bit late for that, thought Sirius.

"Wait I'm not here to fight. My name is Harry Mason, I'm in town on vacation."

Sirius, despite the situation could not help but inwardly chuckle at the unintentional Rhyming from Harry. The older man, he noted had relaxed. His initial shot must have been a natural reaction and Sirius couldn't blame him for not taking any chances, not with all that was running about . By now for Sirius, meeting living people, as few as they were, was becoming a little easier to deal with. The older gentlemen here, was nowhere near as disturbing as either the younger or older child, or the old crone. He was just a man and Sirius felt no dark presence about him.

"Thank god, another human being"

Harry arose from his sheltered spot on the floor looking a little shaken but otherwise fine. He stared momentarily at the other before speaking carefully.

"Do you work here?"

"I'm doctor Michael Kaufmann . I work at this hospital."

The doctor's voice was husky and sounded far more tired then Sirius had ever heard.

"So maybe you can tell me what's going on?"

"I really can't say. I was taking a nap in the staff room, when I woke up it was like this. Everyone seems to have disappeared, and its snowing out, this time of year, something's gone seriously wrong."

"Did you see those monster? Have you ever seen such aberrations? Ever even heard of such things? You and I both know creatures like that don't exist."

"Yeah."

"Have you seen a little girl anywhere? I'm looking for my daughter. She's only seven, short black hair..."

"She's missing? I'm sorry, but with all those monsters around I highly doubt she's..."

Harry gasped. This Doctor Kauffman was not good at being sensitive to others, Sirius mused.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to alarm you. Your wife? She's here with you?"

"She died four years ago. Now it's just me and my daughter."

Good comeback. Sirius gathered the man, regardless of being a doctor, needed to work on his social skills. The baseball term three strikes and your out sprung to mind.

"I see, I'm sorry. Well I better be going, I can't just sit around here doing nothing."

"So long. Good luck out there."

Kauffman was not a threat if his conversation skills were anything to go by. He was not much different to the female cop Sirius had met. Running confused and questioning about the town.

Sirius followed Harry as he explored about, picking up a map while going through rooms that connected the reception area. Harry even found a newspaper, curiously with a missing article. Sirius took it as normal while Harry barely even gave it a thought.

Having exhausted all other rooms Harry and Sirius found themselves in another corridor. There were many doors to other rooms and even an elevator. Nothing of interest caught Harry's attention so he went to the first door that he could open.

More tables and equipment were strewn about, a map proclaiming itself as the map for the basement was quickly pocketed by Harry, and yet another whiteboard with inconsequential writing was hanging on the wall. However it was only when they entered the next room that something of real interest turned up.

Sitting central and taking most of the room was a table made of marble or a similar substance while leather chairs were haphazardly tucked under the tables mass. Those of the crow family such as Sirius were notorious gatherers of shiny things so it took mere seconds for Sirius to spot the key laying in the table's top. Harry , being human, took longer to find it, preferring a more meticulous approach to each room they entered. He picked up the key and read the label attached. It was the key to the basement no less so Sirius gathered that would be their next place to search.

The key had worked and both had descended the stairs to the actual basement where upon entering the unlit room little cockroach type monsters ran from the dark to take nibbles at Harry's feet but instead of wasting valuable bullets, he merely crushed the insects under foot, a satisfying crunch accompanying their demise.

Harry turned on his torch to give some light. More doors connected to other rooms and another elevator was just around a short bend. Sounds above had been fairly quiet but here under the hospital Sirius could hear a sounded like a multitude of screaming. If he had teeth they would have been ground together. It was creepy, it was though the dead were in pain, not quite in the realm that living creatures existed. It brought forth a recollection of the spirits that had watched the conversation in the church only they were not passive but in torment, that so gripped them they could not help but cry out.

The elevator was not working and there was only one other door in which Harry could enter. Nothing adorned the room except a large generator that supplied the power to the hospital. It was currently switched off. It rattled into life as Harry turned it on, shaking the foundations slightly and to Sirius's relief drowning out the melancholy cries.

Harry used the lift to return to the first floor so that he could search the rooms he had discarded while checking the basement. One contained the kitchen, polished and cleaned. Pots and pans were in their allotted place and empty bottles rested on the counters. There was no smell of food only the continued rotting smell that lingered about the town pervading the air.

In the only other unlocked room left they found clear signs of vandalism. The small secluded office the map declared as the Directors was in disarray. A large cupboard was wide open, the contents of books and papers scattered about the floor while those that remained within were torn and ripped and no longer organized.

"The shelves are all messed up. Who did this?"

Sirius had the same question in his head too. The town so far had appeared to just be deserted but this gave credence that someone had been here after the disappearing act by the townsfolk. Someone had been looking for something.

Harry walked behind a table and stared down in worry at the mess left there as well. Sirius looked down. The shattered remains of a glass container lay below, covered in some kind of red liquid. The feeling of having something walk on his grave came upon him at the sight of it. Even though the substance was still it also appeared to be moving of it's own violation. Sirius for that minute thought he could see the liquid at the sub atomic level. The atoms and particles moving under their physical limitations. Then the liquid was just as any other but the strange feeling as if he was still seeing it remained.

The door he perceived in his mind as the divider between himself and the other part of him was rapped by his hidden self just beyond it's boundaries and Sirius knew that the red substance below was of importance.

" I had better collect some of this."

Harry spoke and was gone. Sirius did not follow, he knew Harry was not going to be long. He looked back down and shivered another thought creeping in. The smashed vial must have been the work of the vandal. Kauffman's face came into profile and Sirius seriously considered it. The doctor was the most likely offender of the mess, after all he was in the hospital. The slow witted man was probably the guilty party but in comparison to the rest of the town a little reorganizing was minor, still, the contents of the smashed vial gave Sirius other ideas.

Harry came back into the room carrying a bottle he had taken from the kitchen. Sirius watched him as he filled it with the remains of red liquid. Kauffman he was sure was guilty of this but the main question he asked was why? Another look at the fluid and Sirius considered the thought that he was either looking for this or intending to get rid of it by smashing it on the floor, but the doctor was after all a doctor with plenty of opportunity to commit the offence before hand. Sirius gave up trying to work it and followed Harry out the door.

There was no where else to go so the next stop was up on the elevator

On level two the elevator lead into a square room with a set of double doors on one wall. Harry however was unable to open them, the rattling of the handle useless as the door appeared to be locked. They returned to the elevator and arose to level three. The square room was the same minor some details, walls bare but for some posters and seating lined up against the empty walls. Harry tried the set of doors that lead into the next room. Yet again though the doors would not budge. He stood for a while no doubt unsure what to do. The old woman's prediction to come here was wrong for there was no where else in which to go, Harry did not have the keys to open any other exits. Sirius if he dared could have attempted to pass through the door as he did on the ground level but leaving Harry seemed like a bad idea and besides he was not keen on adding a headache to the headache he had from second guessing everything and from the painful contact with the wall.

Harry a little dejectedly returned to the confines of the elevator. Sirius could understand if at least a little for his daughter was presumably here by the old woman's admission but there was nowhere left for which he could look. Suddenly his demeanour changed from dejection to curiosity when Harry looked upon the buttons that controlled the lift. Sirius hovered lower to look and he too was surprised for a button to another previously un guessed level was now visible.

3

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B

Had changed to..

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Sirius felt a chill. Harry was desperate to find his daughter and with doubts caused by the slow witted and potential vandal Kauffman's suggestion that something terrible had befallen her gave him no compunction to press the newly appeared button.

The doors opened to a new room, but this was far different to the previous ones, the walls were not sparse like the others instead grimy rust covered them head to foot, the floor bloodstained. Harry exited. All thoughts of examining the area was forgotten though as both man and bird stopped in fear and fascination. Walking through the open double doors was the girl last seen in the school basement. She wore the same dress and was seemingly unaware of her two watchers. She took light steps into the dark unknown corridor the doors falling shut behind her of their own power.

Without thought or assessment, Harry ran after her.


	8. Narro Nex

**Chapter 7  
Narro Nex **

_Nursie tell me true_

_What the hell happened to you?_

_Did the desease have your name?_

_Written into its sickly game_

-_Windwalker_

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On either side the walls seemed to stretch forever. Closed doors spanning the entire length on one side, barred windows opaque with something other then soap on the other fading into the mist ahead. A kaleidoscope of rust and grime covering every visible inch, even the floor was a giant bloodied stain. An unpleasant sheen was apparent on top of the aged, corrosive mould and above, the ceiling was hidden by a blanket of shadow. As for the teenage girl, there was no sign, she had vanished as completely as before.

In Sirius's minds eye a vision came to him. The girl they had just seen was walking through another door. This time it was not in the Hospital but on the sidewalk staring an a building its door hanging like a limpet to its hinges.. Above the entrance half destroyed was the end of a word '? ique' Sirius thought could be 'antique'. She took light steps into the black void. Sirius shook the vision from his head. The image he had just envisioned and the sight of her minutes earlier overlapped to seem as though one. How could she be in two places at once? Sirius sensed that they coincided, instantaneous of each other. One was real, one was a vision but was the vision real or was the real the vision? Maybe both were real? Sirius shook his head and looked towards Harry.

Harry took a few cautious steps into the gloom. The movement somehow inducing a reaction as the sound of a click echoed from behind. Harry spun around, gun raised and Sirius too turned to look, but all that was there was the door they had passed through, now closed. Harry looked suspiciously at the door and more particularly on the handle with bated breath. He removed the revolver from his waistband, raising it even as he took a wary step forward. With his free hand he slowly gripped the handle, taking a deep breath as he did so. Patiently he held the handle while dipping his head to hear better but nothing, at least to Sirius ears (and his hearing was far superior), could be heard. A gulp and another intake then Harry smashed down the handle, his muscles tightening and contracting with the sudden movement. Harry leaned forward intending to rush back into the room but he did not count on the resistance. He jarred his shoulder with an oomph when the door failed to part even a millimetre. The seriousness his face had portrayed thus far withered away to other emotions, first surprise then confusing finally passing all the way into fear and distress.

Again he shifted the handle and once more without success. Unbridled panic set in, he shook the handle with ever greater force even shoving his sore shoulder against the timber that blocked his way but the door was unforgiving. It held fast and would not budge even a little. After repeated failure he slumped where he stood, somehow the door had been locked, there was no where else to go but forward. Harry peered into the mist before him, taking little comfort in it's very ominous presence. If the door behind was not locked and the way ahead was not so keen to hide Sirius was sure Harry would balk but as it stood the only choice was a precautious not precipitate step forward. He marched down the path, Sirius in rearguard, rattling door handles down the route but none were open for him. He came to the end when the corridor jutted around a corner coming face to face with a similar door to the one in which he had entered, then with a prayer and a wing he tried this one. An enormous sense of relief filled him as it swung open on it's hinges but one look inside evaporated that. Within was a corridor, the same as what he had just walked through. Except to Sirius it was different, the mist had given way to darkness, dirtier and more dangerous looking too, an emanation of greater evil. It was then that the Raven realized that the town had shifted. The were now in darker Silent Hill where nastier creatures lurked. He took another look into the next room, on retrospect it was more ominous then before.

Once more the walls, floor and doors were the same even the entrance locking behind them was replayed to lesser effect the only difference was there were no windows. However the potential cruelty in running forever down monotonous rusted halls with no escape was thankfully relieved when Sirius spied a descending staircase. On the empty wall an emblazoned number four sat and odd looking markings but Sirius discarded them. He looked down the staircase but it gave nothing, it was of the darkest sable. The only way to find what was below was to descend them. Harry was desperate for his daughter, he looked apprehensively but crossed onto the first step anyway. The only way was down, conveniently the way hell lay.

Harry with gun drawn entered the door from the stairwell into level three of the hospital. The decor was like the fourth, full of rust and dried blood. The room was in fact a u-shaped corridor, one way stretching around a corner while another direction lay to Harry's immediate left. Leading down the light faded to become as black as a crow in midnight. The floor had diverted from concrete into grating covering a bottomless pit of seemingly unending descent. Sirius thoughts sprung to mind a hand reaching out from the cracks, beseeching someone to join them, down into that eternal abyss, down into a nightmare where the dark things walked and the devil whispered sweetly in your ear whilst your flesh crawled and burned.

A single step forward and the radio began to emit it's static. Harry's other foot was left poised mid-step when it reached his ears. Sirius safely high above the ground peered into the gloom, shadows looming at every corner. The decadent room was perfect for hiding within and almost instantaneously in time with Harry, whose foot slumped from its suspension, Sirius noticed one such hidden person. Standing just beyond the light of Harry's torch was a nurse, the uniform she was wearing typical of her profession. The nurse would have been considered an expected resident if not for the theme that was present, hardly a time for a nurse to be doing her rounds. Her demeanour appeared odd and unnatural too as she stood swaying from side to side on the balls of her feet in response to some inner rhythm. She had her back turned and responded to no stimuli, just the heavy, zombie-like rolling as if on a ship like the Marie Celeste, where ghosts haunted and fog hallowed the decks. Harry took a cautionary step forward and the nurse so far in her mindless world reacted with an instantaneous, almost predatory sharpness that defied her state of melancholy inertia a second before. She stretched up to full height allowing the light of Harry's torch to gain better presence on her. Harry gasped in revilement while Sirius blinked. A extruding lump squirmed, expanding and contracting from the base of her neck. Its fleshy, bulbous form writhing under the scrutiny of the light, moving of its own volition. A cancerous lump that had no place at all on the human anatomy. Thankfully the nurse revolved so the thing was no longer visible but the slack jawed, glaze-eyed facial features of the nurse was almost as bad. She looked dead.

The gun in Harry's hand shook as his frightened face was locked onto hers. A deep moan parted from her corpse lips, the sound more from the vibrations from her throat in imitation of life rather then from the normal use of vocal chords. In one slack hand she held the handle of a rusted knife swinging haphazardly as though her arm had no power of its own. She moved and acted like a caricature of a human being. She lurched towards Harry, her body moving curiously out of sync, limbs acting out of symmetry of each other as though not sure how they were supposed to act.

"Christ...!"

Harry put his finger down on the trigger when the nurse after appraising him with her dead eyes struck up with frenzied speed toward him, the hand with the knife raising to attack. The thud of tearing flesh echoed loudly as each bullet hit home. The nurse shuddered at each intrusion but headed on regardless. Harry found himself with his back to the wall when he reversed from the oncoming fiend in woman's form. Apparently sensing victory she put on one final burst of speed to bring her directly face to face with Harry. The stench of rotting flesh greeted Harry's sinus's and caused his eyes to water and nose clench in retaliation. The hand with the knife that had steadily been raising in approach was now held high above the slouched figure it was attached to.

Sirius had counted the bullets that left the weapon and knew there was but two more left, not enough to defeat this thing, he thought but then Sirius was not always right. The second last bullet pounded into more flesh and the nurse finally sagged a little. The last completed the damage to the walking corpse, muffled by such close proximity to its target. The knife hand did not finish its intended arc, instead falling lifeless to the nurse's hip as she too faltered before at last collapsing into a boneless heap.

Harry sighed and leaned back in relief but it was short lived for the nurse started convulsing on the ground. She had landed face first so the protrusion stood out in stark contrast to the blue and white uniform. While the nurse's body shuddered and squirmed the lump did to, the zombie life of the nurse apparently its sustenance. A final gasping moan was elicited by the woman, not forced like the other she had emitted, but more human sounding like the groan of someone waking from slumber. It was the last sign of life within her. The thing on her back increased its movements as it felt the loss of its host before eventually the inevitability of its demise caught up to it and the thing shivered into death too.

Harry produced a pipe from his inventory and proceeded to pummel the corpse in release of all the rage and fear the nurse had caused him. It was an expression of the terror, frustration and suffering he had thus far been forced to endure. Sirius watched with a dispassionate eye. He understood the need for the mindless violence, everybody needed to let go sometime and it was better now for Harry then later when this tantrum equivalent might mean his immediate demise when something greater and more terrible came upon him. Harry slid to the ground as his energy left him still holding the pipe in one tight-held fist, his knuckles as white as the unusual summer snow. He clutched it like a child which reminded Sirius of the little girl. Her being alive was becoming a very remote possibility now with more and more of these abominations appearing and perhaps deep down Harry was beginning to realise it too. Time was becoming selective again as it felt like an eternity before Harry found the energy to rise from the floor. The panic and various emotions were now safely hidden again only the determined but still starry-eyed look was once more in place on Harry's increasingly haggard face. He whacked the pipe to his palm in a heavy slapping movement before replacing it with the gun he had procured some time ago. A cracking of Harry's spine and he was ready to delve into the many rooms of the hospital. Being ready for what lurked there was another matter.

Harry entered one of the rooms on the corridor and almost gagged at what he saw. They found themselves in a bathroom the walls papered with tiles rather then paint or wallpaper and on top of that some one had conceived the idea of splashing the walls with blood, an inordinate amount of it, not one tile appeared to be devoid of the haemoglobin substance. Sirius was far used to blood, he had seen a copious amount of it, but it still disturbed him to see it smearing the toilet walls. There was no body to account for it, and it looked violently shed too. Harry had managed to withhold his gagging instinct and cautiously entered further until he reached with effort the end of the bathroom. On the blacked out window sill at the end was a curious looking item. Sirius peered from his end to see what looked like a stone tablet, blue in colour. Harry rolled it on the palms of his hands before errantly putting it into a pocket. He scanned the room with wide eyes and on seeing nothing more departed quickly not keen to stand in a room where death had so obviously occurred. As he went through the door the sharp shock sound of something breaking embedded itself into his hearing. Harry turned to look with out right terror but the room was still empty of life. He fled.

Harry and Sirius were now in the basement staring at the fallen corpse of yet another nurse, her face though bloody had a serenity on it that had been missing when she had been walking. The flaccid features had entirely gone.

Level three of the hospital had not offered anything of possible use. The occasional sound followed in wake of Harry's footsteps, a clunk of falling chains where there was nothing at all, and the nurses that peppered the hospital were the only things thus far that contained any semblance life here. Innumerable items had been come across but they only offered confusion. What was a bird cage doing in a hospital? Sirius thought. Not only that there was a working VCR, Harry with no use for it paid it little attention but Sirius could not help but look back on it wondering why this piece of electrical equipment was the only one that could be used in the whole of the town, and there was no sign any electrical current was available to make the machine work either. Harry had pocketed while searching the rooms another tablet to the blue one he had found and a bag of blood which he had picked up for no apparent reason he could gather. Sirius could have told him, if he could speak, that Harry was relying more on his instincts and subconscious now, something that Sirius was beginning trust more of himself while in Silent Hill.

Harry glanced back at the elevator. He had found it whilst systematically checking the rooms to level three and on seeing no option, except to travel all the way back to the stairwell had hopped in. Harry had randomly pressed the button for the basement and here they were.

The last visit had left an ominous feel but the darker and messier walls heightened that feeling even further. The doors were as before there but the rancid smell had tripled. On experience from the school both knew that doors that were locked before may not be so now, so continuing his thorough searching Harry tried every room. The generator room was pretty much the same apart from the deadened skin the walls had altered to. Leaning against one side was a hammer similar to what a fireman would use. Harry strode over and gripped its handle, rolling one side to other before taking a couple of meaty swings with it. A hint of a smile creased his face. It was the first sign of joy, albeit a dark joy, that entered his face since Sirius had caught sight of him. Nothing else lay around for Harry to take a perverse and ironic sense of happiness from, so he left with barely a glance.

Only one other room was open for Harry to use, another locked tight. The radio blared its familiar tune as he walked through the doorway. Two nurses rushed from either side of him and Harry throttled his way past further inside. His reactions quickening Sirius noted from his safe vantage point. Harry turned, still holding the axe he had gotten from the generator room. He planted his feet firmly on the floor then began to raise the axe against the walking dead. The first held aloft another knife, the preferred weapon of choice it seemed, and ran straight at him. The axe came down in its completed arc and buried deep in her soft fleshy shoulder. Harry pulled it back again causing a squelching sound as it was ripped from the nurses body. Dumbly the other nurse tried to get to Harry through the first, which stood in her way. Sirius laughed in his head despite the severity of the situation, he couldn't help it. Harry's axe came down again this time hitting both nurses sending them staggering back. Again and again he raised and descended his weapon until they shook into stillness on the ground. For good measure he kicked their inert bodies like pigskin footballs, the wondrous sound of yielding meat greeted his ears. There was satisfaction in every grunt he produced from the kicks. Sirius was beginning to get worried, Harry was getting less lucid by the hour, he hoped to god it would pass or trouble would loom.

Now with the room clear of nasties both man and bird got a better look at the room. It was the hospitals equivalent of a mausoleum. Rows of cots lined either wall covered in cloth where beneath the obvious shapes of cadavers rested. Harry violent streak gave way to his more usual dread face. He avoided eye contact with the resident deceased while he scoured the room with a less then normal intensity he had done others. Sirius was far more used to dead bodies.

Harry charged to the door. Sirius intended to follow but the sound of movement tempted his ears. He knew better the to turn around but like the horror movies where the stupid victim knew better then to run up the stairs or the idiot who looked down when told not to, Sirius could not help himself. On one of the very last bed's one of the corpses was now sitting upright, facing Sirius from beneath the covering. As Sirius stared the thing raised one gnarled and formless hand to pull the sheet from its head. The glimmer of blonde hair was closely followed by a sweaty forehead , then the eyebrows until the sheet fell away completely revealing the haggard, bloodshot face of a man. Death had not been kind to him, flesh hung loose and lank on his face defining a rather pronounced skull below. Skin and meat had slithered off entirely down one side and Sirius could see the clenching of his/its jaw. His/its eyes were so bloodshot they looked like pools, only the hint of an iris floating in their centre.

Welcome to death.

Sirius was startled as a deep voice bounced off the inside of his head. He looked in wide eye astonishment at the man/thing. Sirius had not experienced telepathy before.

You bring me your soul. Come closer please. Let me touch it.

Sirius was not going to comply.

Ah so afraid. Bird you fear what you don't need to. I like birds, very pretty. Come closer please. I do not bite.

The corpse asked a second time and Sirius reversed instead. He would not get close enough for it to grab him.

Very well so be it. You will never get answers by holding back. I'm no different to the ghosts. I am a ghost in my own way.

# Your dead#

Sirius's thoughts somehow gained a more physical substance. He could feel it form into something more palpable.

You see. We are the same. Both dead.

#You're not as dead as they are.#

Quite right. I can live again, they are forever dead. I'm not like the others.

The corpse spoke the last part in such a way that Sirius doubted he was now talking about the ghosts.

I am more but also less the nothing. I am whole but incomplete. Death is not my purpose but I am dead just the same.

Sirius could not make sense of what the corpse was talking about.

Time cannot hold forever, my time is always brief here. I must leave now but we will meet again. Remember this my little blackbird, a watcher waits while the witness writes, neither as one 'til all is done.

#Who are you?#

We do not know. Yet.

A flash of light crossed Sirius's eyes and when his vision cleared the corpse once more rested on the table, cloth covered and still. Sirius looked long and hard at it but no movement occurred then he remembered Harry. He must be long gone by now. Sirius turned in panic that the man had indeed left him far behind. Harry was just opening the door. Sirius blinked a few more times. Surely the man should have been gone by now, he was obviously eager to leave this place then he remembered the corpse had said something about holding time. By the still present Harry it must have been so. Sirius looked back once more before departing behind Harry. He wasn't sure but he thought he saw blood soaking into the pristine white sheet that covered the man's dead body.


	9. Spes Quod Fides

**Chapter 8  
Spes Quod Fides **

_A heat, a flame_

A candle on the sea of change

An idle way, a thought, a day

A stranger on a strange highway.

Windwalker

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Sirius followed Harry onto the ground floor, his thoughts diverted towards the dead man. He had ruffled the Raven like nothing before. Sirius had experienced nothing like it, he had always taken his inability to speak as normal, frustrating but normal. His nature divided equally between his high intelligence and wild avian instinct. Sirius had never before spoken in conversation to another, limited to gestures within the capability of his bird form. He WAS a bird and the need to converse was not and had never been a requirement in his genetic makeup, although his all too human brain was often frustrated by his inability to do so. It was only now with his fear and shock ebbing away that the event had taken new meaning and understanding. On retrospect it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to speak but his animal side revolted at the possibility. Such was the nature within himself and his current obsession.

The fact of spoken thought became secondary as he took in the conversation he had just been party too. The dead man had but briefly interrupted time, an impossible singularity, yet also Sirius thought of the fog that which had enveloped him, when Harry had vanished and the female cop had appeared. Then it seemed like time had wandered from his grasp, but now with the recent example, suggesting to it as potential fact, he second guessed it. Maybe the dead man had obscured time then too? Who was the dead man? and why was he different and yet the same to the ghosts? Why these endless strings of never answered questions? They were like tree's in a forest obscuring his path, keeping him trapped within a compound of no borders, no ending in sight. Sirius was the sort to like order yet all he had come across was chaos. He just hoped that the answers he sort, were close to revelation.

'A watcher waits while the witness writes, neither as one 'til all is done.'

This was apparently the main message the deceased had to impart to him but it was obscure at best to Sirius. A watcher, a witness were they not the same? Yet the final part, 'til all is done' spoke otherwise. The dead man had imparted this to him, seemingly of utmost importance, and made the bird wonder if he was either one or the other of those. Technically he was a watcher, watching Harry on his terror travels and yet also a witness to the degradation and fear the man had to face. Yet the saying suggested he or another could not be both until the end, which rattled his brain further. Either through the natural conclusion of his adventure or the finality of death, Sirius was sure he would know partial answers to at least the important questions. Asking why was just another road to nowhere. Sirius was already following one, a path where answers came along only when you reached them, in the end he decided he would just have to follow the trail to discover them.

Harry destroyed another walking zombie. This one a male doctor wrapped in his white coat. The axe he held splitting apart the zombie's shoulder in a shower of blood which stained the sterilised opal of the cloth. The body twitched and groaned before it fell and Harry walked over its corpse before it's convulsions had even stilled. The sickly shade of green on his skin receding, as after each death Harry became more desensitized to each act of murder.

Sirius back on track to his usual audacious self, trailed after Harry. Behind him, the walls whispered in unified voice. Begging, pleading, suffering. A choral of despair and withered hope. Within the unknown voices a ethereal figure hugged close to the shadows, watching the two trespassers. No sound came from the lips of this one, silent like Judas when he revealed the identity of Christ. As if speech held a darkened quality in a moment where a betrayal was sealed with a kiss. Words meant nothing, were but a false medium when life was wrought with change. It watched, biding itself within the shroud of voice and emptiness. An apostle, Judas, Jesus or the men who took away the Christ child, which place he took was not known. It watched for a time more, until both man and beast parted beyond its eye line, then the ghost disappeared deeper and deeper into the shadows until full darkness consumed it. The voices of lost souls following in it's wake, as if on the tail of a comet. Harry and Sirius entirely unaware of the voices or man.

Another white garbed victim wobbled into view when Harry turned the corner, its legs responding badly. Harry barely fazed now swiped out with his weapon of choice decapitating the zombie with impossible ease, blood spilling in a fountain from the exposed stump before the rest of the body followed the cranium and tumbled to the floor. Sirius to his chagrin was splattered with some of the risen blood and almost gave away his location to Harry when an indignant cry threatened to spring full throttle from his voice box. His sable, feathered body now tinged with crimson streaks. If Harry saw the state of him while Harry himself was in a state, the resultant fall out would be catastrophic for Sirius. Drops of blood was nothing to being splattered dramatically across the walls. He kept his silence.

Harry briefly scanned each room on the first floor, degradation as evident on the walls and floor as the rest of the Hospital. Things replaced former items and the place barely looked as it had been. Another tablet was left abandoned in one room and in another the banging of an unknown assailant sped up Harry's eagerness to depart it. Sirius followed behind as always but a growing sense of unease gripped his beating heart. A whiff of scent behind him jerked his head in worry but only the shadows and the continued rusted theme were evident. Yet something seemed subtly reordered from what he could recall. A cold chill parted through his body. Frustration at his nerves began to whelm. The derelict zombie hospital was worse then the school. He never felt a presence in his wake there, yet here, there was. All things appeared more there, more real then before and he had the growing feeling of a second shadow trailing behind with ever increasing insistence. And there was the constant image of that sitting corpse imbedding into his memory. There was far more company here then Sirius was happy with.

Another doctor and another door stood in Harry's way. He grabbed down on the handle of the door after disposing of the doctor and found with little surprise the sound of the lock barring his way. However the sound of footsteps behind that door riveted him. Sirius still staring warily at his back traded his attention sharply, something sounded odd with those steps. The look of mild interest on Harry increasing his own. It was not the shuffle of ill used feet that symbolised the zombies but rather the sharp tap of receding feet at the rattling of the door. Whatever lay behind it was not keen to face whoever lay beyond, namely Harry. The zombies craved the tearing flesh so it seemed unlikely to be one of them. Perhaps, Sirius thought, it could be the dim Doctor Kauffmann, as he was the previous occupant to this particular room. He could very well have made his way back here and locked himself away from the walking, flesh dropping zombies 

"Hello? Is someone in there?"

Not a single reply was forth coming. Only an endless silence. Harry shrugged non-commitment and turned away, not having time or the inclination to examine further but Sirius was intrigued. His eyes trailed Harry as he walked away whilst his mind was opening itself to previously disregarded options. In a twinkling of an eye he made a rash and sudden decision. He would try to fly through it as he had done when first entering the Hospital all that time ago, it would be a brief look and Harry would not get far. Praying for it to work and thinking no more about it he flew straight at the door.

Preparing his body for a painful impact Sirius was thankful when no such thing occurred. Only the briefest vision of the doors innards surfaced before him when he caught sight of a desk from the other side. The faintest of cries reached his ears as he pulled himself short and there before him with wide eyes was a very living looking person. 

Sirius landed awkwardly on the nearest surface and stared without conscience at the occupant, a woman wearing the recognisable uniform of a nurse, the same as the ones the other dead ones wore. However this nurse looked far more alive then her compatriots and with no visible lump on her back. Fascination eclipsed caution and care and he stared harder taking in all the details of the woman insuring he had not been mistaken in assuming her harmlessness. She stepped back, tipping into a desk behind her and wincing. Two bright red dots of pain marked her unnaturally white pallor, making her appear like a clown with pancake makeup spread laboriously across her face, red paint added to emphasize her features. Long brown hair clung watery to her skin and partially covered her bulging orbs. 

Harry was on the move and Sirius knew that he had little time to ponder this woman. She was currently reverting further away from him and almost literally crawling under the desk she had jimmied. Note one, she was alive, one of the few Sirius had seen so far but like the others he felt no compulsion to stay with her, Harry was the key. She was for the moment safely locked away from the evils, note two and note three she creeped him out. Something was not right about her, it could have been that she had appeared as if by magic after the town turned or something else entirely, he could not be sure. Harry may not have been easily defined as alive but Sirius felt at ease with him despite the growing insanity. She, this nurse defied his emotions.

Sirius doubted she would leave here and he had to catch Harry before he got too far. By now she had hidden herself completely under the desk, as if that offered protection he thought sagely. She was locked in and out of the way, the safest place for her and he had to move, his interest sated to the point he wished to leave post haste.. Her bug eyes followed him as he attempted to return through the door and the relief he felt at passing to the other side caught him by surprise. With no time to ponder he zoomed down the hall barely concentrating or worrying now as he past more doors in search of his link to the town. A new exhilaration filled him as the former obstacles were now nothing to him, Sirius a little guilty relished his new found freedom now all he needed to do was to find Harry again.

A pulsing homing beacon spread warmth into his blood, far more comforting then the loud siren that accompanied any change to the town. That unusual relationship that bound him to Harry had another a secret it seemed.

That foreboding sense of being followed also arose within him and unable to resist he turned to look behind him. Shadows, blood, the usual but the feeling of being watched grew with every breath he took. He sped up his search for Harry but still that creepiness trailed behind with increasing vigour.

Sirius found himself down another long corridor curiously marked with strange symbols on the walls these inspiring more dread then the other ones had. Suddenly with no warning his throat constricted on him. He squawked with one final deep breath and plummeted ungraciously to the ground. His feet collapsing beneath him as he tumbled onto the hard floor surface in a ruffle of feathers. Even without the exertion of breath for flying the feeling of constriction did not ease, in fact it grew with increasing pain.

Sirius writhed and panted as his throat began to collapse to a pinhole. One foot tripped over the other as he twisted in desperation to wrestle the invisible hand that held him with a firm grip. Unbelievably more pressure began to assert itself on his windpipe, the squeezing the very life out of him. Sirius increased his frantic struggle to try and dislodge whatever was eager to choke him, his body heaving and shuddering as though in a fit. Pain a rare almost unknown sensation scaring him beyond all reason. 

Revealing themselves from the darkness, two yellow eyes watched, greedily and smugly taking in the scene. In the blackening of his sight Sirius caught the intelligent gaze and felt the pressure renew to greater pain. In his jumbled mind he recognised those eyes, he had seen them before. Certainly not human though. The iris stretching long ways, flecked with green and reflecting a dark mirth that bore into him. A predator enjoying the final throws of its victim.

In a burst of insight Sirius knew whose eyes they belonged to. It was the cat from the school. The demonic creature had followed him here, had more then likely searched him for this purpose alone. How the creature was able to hurt him in such a way beyond his current situation but he did know in his dying thoughts was that the creature was evil incarnate. The little doubt he had of it evaporating into dust.

All of a sudden the constriction eased a little and Sirius gasped of what air he could, acutely aware it may be his last. He opened his weary eyes and saw the cat had shifted. It now sat crouched almost eyeball to eyeball with him and he felt sure he could see a burning fire in its gaze. Sirius felt his heart thumping hard in expectancy of any increase of choking and the closeness of the feline. A whiff of brimstone and rotting flesh greeted him and the cats skull also began to look more and more skull like only the eyes clear and full of rancour. Flesh appeared to shrink on its already skinny body. The mouth changed into a malformed grin, human like, the teeth held there looking far sharper then what they should be.

Sirius in his mind began a mantra in a language he did not know, taking him by surprise for he could not recall ever having heard it. A new pressure built in him but not from the resultant choking, in fact to him it felt warm and comforting, a blanket on a cold night. The cats look altered subtly to include mild concern in its plethora of emotions. Sirius had some how untapped another closed door of his soul and whatever it was had disturbed the cat. Encouraged despite his weakened state, Sirius concentrated all he had to that little fire burning within him. The cat swirled its tail in agitation, now more then mildly worried.

The mantra he repeated, began to gain a life of its own, working without his need to aid it. The inner being of his soul, for the first time taking full control of him. Sirius felt like he now was looking through a tunnel, absconded into somewhere deep within his own mind. What he did see form his distant vantage brought encouragement. The cat had retreated from his form, its cruel grin gone, in replacement horror. Sirius was sure he saw something new in the cat, another shape within the one it already held. Sirius tried to see what other image was there but before he could a blinding light crossed his sight and the world turned to complete and utter darkness.


	10. Libra

**Chapter 9  
Libra **

_Indecision_

_Inquisition_

_Release me from this hell's reside_

_Proposition_

_Opposition_

_Love and hate, a world's divide_

_WindWalker_

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Sirius awoke from his slumber with a groan, his head feeling full of weight and confusion. The last he could recall was the blinding light after his curious gaze had tried to ascertain what strange transformation had begun within the form of the cat. The images came to him in fits and starts as he arose on tottering feet. Sirius could feel the loss of energy in him, as though a great burst of it had expelled in that moment of brightness and had yet to return. Also within him was something new. What made him beyond the ken of normalcy appeared to have gained a new note, something of which his conscious thoughts still refused to acknowledge to him. His soul in its very deepest reaches held it as a well kept secret among the other facets of himself not ready to be released. An extra burden to his already heavy soul. Sirius wondered at its purpose and whatever he had just done to cause that sense of addition. He felt like a math equation, new symbols and information being added and subtracted to his inner psyche until the final solution was forthcoming.

Sirius groaned again as the headache he now sported pronged the tenuous membrane of his brain. However it also loosened his sense into more coherency and Sirius instead of reaching towards his inner thoughts was brought back to reality. With his optic nerves painfully contracting from the temporary blindness his squinted around. It was the same hallway he had passed out in, the same one the cat had confronted him. Slight difference could be seen though as his eyes gradually adjusted themselves back to their former clearance. The walls sported new additions to the blood and rust, now they held the marks of a great burning, blackened scorch marks spread up to the roof in the immediate surroundings of Sirius. The erratic placed gurney's with the vicinity were also out of place. No longer were they dotted all along the hallway but rather they were in collapsed piles at either ends. It must of taken a incredible force to push them far on either side and Sirius knew without a doubt that what had occurred was ultimately responsible fro the strangeness. What concerned him more though was the lack of any sign of the abysmal creature that had started this. If something had happened to it Sirius was sure he would see residue signs of its corpse. At least a trail or puddle of blood that was of a greater magnitude then the miniscule blotches that were part and parcel of the decor. Sirius assumed it was possible the cat could be alive but somehow he didn't think so. He was alive after all, the cat would have returned to destroy him if it lived, and whatever had happened at the very last had scared the beast beyond imagining.

Sirius tested his aching wings which felt more like they were made of lead then the thin feathering he was used to. They creaked with alarming loudness and Sirius winced from that rather then the expectancy of any pain, which was minimal. Sirius rotated them as best he could, more twinges and creaking accompanying every move. After awhile they felt limber enough for him to attempt to rise above the ground. At first the effort was too much and Sirius resorted to hopping on either foot to gain altitude. It was strange too for he had barely used his wings in the encounter. Eventually after trial and error he managed to ascend high enough that his wings remembered how to work. Looking down from his precarious spot Sirius caught sight of something that gave him pause. An out of place curio was lying on the floor which he had missed from his scan from the floor. In a thankful sigh he landed once more, the relief of pressure from his strained wings a gratifying moment.

Sirius approached with caution, the curio was taking on a lumpy quality from his new position and this inspired memories of the lumps forming on the backs of the walking former employees. Closer now Sirius was able to distinguish the lump as some sort of charred remains. The cat was the first and only thing to spring to mind at that. As he neared it became more and more apparent that it was. A horrifying conclusion arose in his thoughts, that Sirius himself was the cause for the burnt reminders. The now positively identified charred remains of the cat only added to this fearful insight.

Sirius though able to perform feats of the impossible felt slightly sickened that he could have done this. He was not a very social creature in fact he was anything but, yet the possibility that he was able to burn a room, burn a life into a blackened mass turned his stomach. Never despite his short fuse of human nature had he wished to be the cause of such grotesque act of evil. Sirius no longer felt comfortable with the part that refused to show itself before him. It was as though he was made of two people, the one of himself and the other buried in his body. In fact he was not sure of what resided in him was actually him. For all his great age and knowledge and awareness it seemed improbable that he could be, possessed. But that was were his thoughts were leading. The more he tried to deny it the more he appeared to be certain of it. If Sirius was drunk it would be a sobering thought indeed.

A scream echoing in the long hallway, startling Sirius from his internal endeavours. His eyes with their unnatural light flicked down both directions trying to decipher the location of the agonizing call. No one was there so the sound must have occurred nearby. Yet he was not comforted by that for something else took away his attention immediately, almost pausing his heart in its beating. The walls were squirming with life they had not exhibited before, the rust spots were changing shape and sliding beyond their original positions and the blood was weeping down the sides in heavy clotted rivulets. Sirius held his breath in disbelief, knowing full well under that, that in this place is was all too possible. A warning cry developed deep within him but the fear of what it could truly be now stopped him from taking immediate notice.

The walls meanwhile increased their speed of movement and the blood was now pouring out in great gushes. Beneath even the floor was altering, creaking without footstep to cause it to, and swaying like the sea then the stable ground it was meant to be. The warning came again, louder now. Sirius could just about ignore it, and he would have done too with immense will but the tired, weary reflection in it dragged his total attention. The floor shook with superior strength as he considered taking the warning. A feeling of melancholy consumed his entire body then and Sirius with no reason whatsoever wanted to ignore the warning badly, to let whatever was coming to take his life and let that voice slide with him unto death but it would not let him. It shouted now with urgency and Sirius felt the twinges of control sliding from his grasp.

NO! That one word filled out everything and it was by far the most wondrous and scary word that his brain had ever uttered. He would not allow the other to control him, to do what ever it had done to the cat. He had no choice but to heed it or it would take over completely and he did not want that to happen under any circumstances. Sirius arose in a rush of feathers and sped down the long corridor in the opposite direction of where he could sense a dark force. Behind him the scream rose again but with the howls of a siren rather then the pitiful calls of the desperate. Sirius no longer felt the melancholy over him, it had vanished just as suddenly as it occurred, nor did he feel the fear of that other part of him taking control. All he felt now was the fear of what was behind him. Approaching in a relentless pursuit.

The scream now ceased only to arise in a more sinister form, heavy breathing. It struck the back of Sirius's neck in hot flush breathes. Sirius was sure that what trailed behind him was now at his very back. All other worries were void from his mind completely at its presence. All reason had departed too, all that remained was the erroneous fear, in which for his past had never been much more then a minor irritant.

The door finally took a larger role in his sight and what trailed became less in his other senses. Sirius invoked a prayer as the point of safety came to his grasp. Behind the breathing elicited a great roar of anger as its obvious prey came closer to escape. Sirius took that as a signal to increase speed and dove at the door in a last desperate attempt, hoping his lifeline was nearer then the 'thing' that so wanted him.

Something scraped his back with sharp claws and Sirius for that moment thought his life was defunct, his earlier idea of suicide not even a memory then. His burning survival extinct was raging full. Blood marred his vision, oozing across his cornea. Sirius' remembered life flashed before his eyes, then the less frightful sight of wood replaced it.

Sirius crashed into the wall much in the same way he had done in his first trial of phasing. He felt only a little of the impact though as his gaze swivelled around in expectancy of a monstrous creature bearing down on him. All he saw was a closed door and the usual rotting decor. No blood topping floor to ceiling and most definitely no odious beast's jaws widening to consume him.

Sirius sunk to the floor in relief and allowed his spent energy to catch up to him. Further inwards the feeling of smugness tugged at his heart and soul. Sirius growled much like a dog in warning only to hiccup and ruin the point totally. He chose then to ignore it. It still made him feel uneasy even in the aftermath of near death but for all his discomfort and angst it was still a part of him, at least until he found a way to make it not so.

Shadows flickered across the walls catching his avian gaze. Sirius became suddenly apparent of the expired time since last spotting Harry. Sirius barely glanced at his surroundings as he sped through corridor after corridor, an all mighty roar of urgency filling his being. The minutes aged at a slow rate and Sirius began to worry that Harry was no longer within the bounds of the hospital. He searched everywhere he could except the hallway where he had his recent scare and change of perspective. If Harry was there he was more then likely dead, again. The creature or whatever abomination it was, may very well still be there, the if not was not something he wished to delve in deeper to.

Hope faded as he failed to spot the man in any of the places he searched for, desperation gained a foothold in him and that despicable but welcoming sense of melancholy was beginning to rear its ugly head. Life before was ponderous but acceptable, but now it was as though his life held no meaning without the presence and joint experiences of Harry. Contentment of his existence had all but gone since he first alighted in the cursed town. Even the town residents had realized something was amiss, and during the dream time when he had come and when the darkness had wrought itself here, they had left in droves, a mass exodus. Even humanity had baser instincts that they listened too or maybe they knew something which he did not. Spoken in the corners of the bars and held in secrecy at home.

Sirius passed through another door, this time leading into a basement room. It was here with the utmost gratitude and relief that he found the previously elusive Harry, staring quizzically into an open doorway. The man looked apprehensive as he peered into the adjoining room.

Sirius alighted to the nearest surface to catch his breath from the increasing agitation he suffered in his search. It had been looking most likely he would never find the missing man on his travels. He was surprised though as Harry had yet to budged from his position from the open door. The man was clearly looking upon something that disturbed him into stillness.

Sirius watched on with a coveted eye while remaining to be well aware of what lay behind his back. That creature that had almost held his small body in its grasp was forever etched in his thoughts. An eternal forbearance Sirius considered morosely, yet some how more appealing despite its deep inhospitable presence then to the fate Harry had fallen into too and was still living in. Harry slipped into the black with a quiet assurance that almost caught Sirius off guard.

The sparseness of the room Sirius entered brought immediately to mind the journey into and out of the clock tower at the school. A walled up crypt into which he was voluntarily entombing himself in, again.

Harry was set on his goal. Undoubtedly trying to prove the un existence of his earlier hesitancy, Sirius thought. Sirius was not ungrateful though, the wooden room gave him chills that he was allowing himself to fall into death's slumber but then he also thought, almost assuredly knew, that he was trailing into the real town, in which case he wanted to travel no farther. Yet bound by purpose and hidden destiny he was going just the same.

Through the limbo like room Sirius and the man Harry found a long darkened corridor leading deeply to unknown areas. Unlike the upper hallways this one was closed in, no windows, no light, only an indistinct path. Harry's footsteps clanked down upon the grating floor and Sirius noticed movement in response to it. Out from ahead a nurse came into view, quickly to became another fallen corpse at Harry's feet. A second one appeared a little further down and that too was disposed of with the same haste and efficiency.

Only a short distance up the room was completed with a locked gate that encompassed the entire end wall. leaning at its corner was yet another wheelchair bereft of any burden. Harry glided one hand along an armrest, creases of emotion marking his sombre features. Sirius glanced at the offending object, considered the locale and promptly disregarded it's association there. Its reminder of the missing child, where its discovery at the point of the girls vanishing act did not go unnoticed by the bird though. It explained the almost wistful emotion on his prey and left a sour taste in his mouth but nothing more.

The only door in that otherwise cold room lead to another very similar, zombie nurses included. Harry hacked away with even greater proficiency and removed the creatures presence from mind. Doors lined this particular route and Harry on his mission took to exploring them.

Due to luck or something else the first room explored contained a valuable item by Sirius's standards. Held in a hand no longer or if ever innocent of violence of Harry's, was a video. Sirius would not have been impressed if Harry clasped another tablet but this, this was a medium that held far more answers then some inanimate object. Sirius though never having used it still understood how a video worked. What lay upon the reel of tape was bound to have some clue as to what was really going on. Or Sirius hoped so.

Harry pocketed it with little thought and moved on. Sirius caught in the excitement was also disappointed that Harry did not hold it with such high regards.

Out of the room and into another. Only two other doors in the miserable place was unlocked. The first opposite the video room was nothing but a funhouse equivalent. It was devoid of everything but the sound of smashing glass.

The second room was another matter altogether. Harry stood in the doorway and looked upon the contents in a similar fashion in which he had perused the doorway that lead down here. Sirius feeling bold hovered just behind Harry's shoulder, sure he was close enough that his tepid breath warmed the mans shoulder enough to be noticeable, and looked in. A large bed was right in the middle, sheets covered with dots of blood but no blanket. Beside it was a side table and piece of equipment Sirius guessed as an IV something or other. He was a worldly bird but not entirely knowledgeable on more technical things.

Harry stepped in and mumbled words fell from his lips. Sirius did not bother to hear them. Instead he looked at the bedside where Harry was heading to. On it was a key and a picture. It was the picture that held his riveted attention. There under the glass frame was none other then the girl that had been travelling about the town and in which he and Harry had kept coming across. Harry read the namesake in the corner of the picture.

"Alessa..."

No bright spark of understanding came Sirius' way but merely the confused half thoughts of curiosity. Yet again a name was added to the seemingly last members of this ghostly town. They were all misfits in a misfit burg.


	11. Lupus

**Chapter 10**

**Lupus**

_Let reason be your Guide_

_Across the void and endless tide_

_For man walks the earth_

_With the devil at his side_

_- Windwalker_

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He stood in the corner watching man and beast as both stared at the screen before them. It smiled from its black hole of a mouth in amusement. Neither was aware of it staring at their back. Within reach to close its cold, lifeless hands around their throats if it so wished. So far though it was choosing to simply watch.

It was also alone this time, the voices that had followed in its wake had departed to haunt elsewhere. Without their familiar yet annoying vocals it was now free to close in further to its prey, without those nuisance sounds cutting through the silence it crept through.

The stranger glided in closer with stealthy silence. Its body merging in with changing tone of darkness. It stood directly behind the man, within the corner of the birds eye, yet still its presence remained unaware of. Neither creature was able to perceive the third member of the room. It chuckled quietly at their ignorance, delighting in its invisible status.

The unknown leaned down to better see the screen, brushing lightly the mans shoulder which elicited only an irritated dusting of the afore-mentioned limb. The bird however appeared agitated, the avian 's head glancing about with tension and suspicion. The unknown felt the bird's eye roving over and away from it and the creature could not help but feel perturbed when the bird shuddered at the brief but unaware connection.

Out of the television screen a pitiable voice came out and diverted the entire room to the video. The picture fizzled from heavy interference. Even squinting it was hard to tell who was speaking but the dulcet tones of a female voice confirmed at least the gender.

Still……..unus……fever

Don't………….get….puls……

Just…..bare

Skin……..is

Even when I…………chi…

……….zing……….thro…….

Won't tell………….

Pleas…………

The tape finished on a pleading note. It brought forth in Sirius rare feelings of pity and despair within him. What little he could gather from the tape sounded terrible, parts of a confessional of sorts it seemed. Fever, Pulse, Skin these words spoke of illness and Sirius felt uncomfortable with what they implied.

The tape was important, otherwise it would not have been where it had. Conveniently available in the worst part of the hospital. Sirius did not consider this a chance encounter. Which begged the question of the exact significance of the information it provided. An illness? A child? Sirius creased his feathers. Something was wrong. The air around him felt oppressive even now. His hackles were raised.

Sirius turned toward Harry. His avian eyes shining brightly. The shadows enveloping Harry looked deep, dark, impenetrable, almost alive. While Harry himself was being introspective, mulling over what he had just seen. The mention of a child causing his concern for his own to grow.

The third mysterious occupant also stared at Harry. Such a frail creature, it mused. It smirked at the worry on the living mans face. It then looked at Sirius and its smirk drifted into a frown. This bird was an ill omen to itself. Something about the creature disturbed it. The Raven had an awareness beyond the ken of normal animals and was looking right at the third entity. It was not worried for the bird showed no recognition that anything but darkness was there, but that did not stop the thoughtful look the animal held.

For the time being the entity was content. For the moment. It began to drift away from the room, there was nothing to see for the time and it could hear faintly those voices drifting back The element of surprise would be gone for those voices were perceptible to the mortal ear in Silent Hill.

Harry sharply left the room passing through the black 'it' with a slight shiver. Sirius following felt nothing. The dark being had gone in a hurry just as the bird was going to pass through it too. Touch of that sort was dangerous. Sirius attuned with instinct of a more supernatural nature would have immediately known that something else lurked. It was not time for that yet.

Harry's own instinct led back down to the ground floor, and right outside the locked room that held the nurse. He put the key he found into the lock and with a click it was open. Harry opened the door.

He shone his light source about to examine the room until it fell upon the nurse, hiding in fear until the table. As soon as Harry settled the light on her features the nurse scrambled out of her hiding spot and straight into his arms, smiling in relief. Sirius seeing this felt guilty about any doubts he felt about the woman.

'Finally someone else whose O.K.' The woman gasped. Sirius secreting himself into a corner watched on.

'Who are you?'

Sirius could hardly be surprised by Harry's lack of tact. He could only assume that Harry under pressure blurted the first thing that came to his mind.

'…..Lisa Garland. What's yours?'

The pair were acting like they met on an everyday street. Sirius could never understand fully how the human mind worked.

'Harry Mason'

'Harry tell me what's happening here. Where is everybody? I must have gotten knocked out…' Sirius saw no marks on her head, ' When I came to everyone was gone. It's awful.'

Harry kindly put his hands around the nurse when it looked like she was about to cry.

'So you don't know anything either. Great… I just don't get it. It's like this is all some kind of bad dream.'

Harry stepped away to pace. It was worse then any bad dream, Sirius thought.

'Can I ask you…. Have you seen a little girl around here? Short, black hair, seven years old.'

Harry's voice frayed as he mentioned his child. The Raven felt bad for the man, even though the child spooked him. The nurse too seemed sympathetic but could not offer the man mu8ch in way of information.

'A seven year old girl? Can't say that I have. I was unconscious all this time. I'm… sorry.'

Sirius's little empathy was draining but he perked up again when Harry brought up the basement.

'No. Why? Is there something down there?'

The question was innocuous enough but the tone told the Raven something different.

'You don't know? Don't you work here?'

Sirius only heard her mention about orders when from the silence beyond the klaxon raised up. He jolted from his spot, so did the humans. A bloody red surged through the air like a death blanket, Sirius felt his senses dim.

Vaguely he could hear Harry cry out in pain and the concerned tones of the nurse but his eskewed sight and hearing prevented him from understanding. He was not in pain but something was obviously trying to cut him off from what was happening, keeping him in the dark. He was starting to dislike the dark.

When Sirius finally got his bearings the scene had changed. Nurse Lisa Garland was missing and the misty light of day filtered in through the windows. Harry was still there but looking just as confused as the bird. A festering anger burned harsh within Sirius he was being denied knowledge and didn't like it one bit. Something had to be done about this place and to stop whatever nightmare was controlling it.

The old woman from the church spoke from behind him. Sirius lost in his own anger didn't flinch but her voice grated him.

'You were too late.'

'Its you.' Harry came straight to the point.

'Yes. Dahlia Gillespie.' Sirius paid attention. This woman, Dahlia, knew more then she let on. He had to listen well. Harry's questioning in agreement.

'Darkness. The town is being devoured by darkness. Strength must overcome petty desires. Childish sleep talk. I knew this day would come.'

From what she said Dahlia was talking apparent gobbledegook but Sirius knew better. This woman had a dark heart within her and it would be wise to listen carefully.

'Believe the evidence of your eyes. The other church in this town--that is your destination.' She pulled something from her pocket, 'This is beyond my abilities. Only you can stop it now. Have you not seen the crest mark on the ground all over town?'

'So that's what I saw in the schoolyard. What does it mean?'

'It is the Mark of Samael. Don't let 'it be completed.'

Samael! Sirius started at that name. It was so, so familiar that it was practically screaming at him but it refused to be willing. Distracted he failed to see the woman leave and by the time his brain was no longer pestering on the name Samael, Harry had picked up the items Dahlia Gillespie had left behind. It was a key.

Harry rushed out the door to catch up to the old woman, Sirius behind him. Too late though, for the Gillespie woman had departed as swiftly as she had appeared. Like a ghost she had come and went.

There was nothing left in the hospital now. Lisa the nurse had vanished just as Dhalia and the other Silent Hill. It was time to move on, to this other church. Sirius didn't like the sound of that. The last church had held the blind dead sitting in the pews as an audience. What choice was there though, at least the dead only watched or warned compared to the other things roaming about.

Sirius needed to go because Harry had already left the hospital, he attempted his newly discovered phasing ability and found it easier then before. It was snowing again. Sirius flew off in the direction he suspected the human had went.

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Deep in the bowels of the hospital voices cried out in pain. Unknown smiled. Those cries were music to its ears when it had no need to hide. Sitting away from the shadow were too small figures, unlike the voices, silent. Unknown gave them its most creepy grin. The two shared not a return smile, in fact they did not react at all. It knew they could see despite the gaping holes where their eyes should have been. The children refused to be baited. Unknown hated them. They were interfering but it could do nothing about them. They were immune to its taunts and threats. It galled It. That meddlesome pair would not be cow-towed.

'We see.' The left boy spoke.

'Can you?' The right boy asked.

Unknown snarled back at them. The children were playing with It and Unknown did not like being the one played with.

'I see. I wait. I act.' The two boys spoke in unison. Unknown rose up and drifted to them but the two boys faded away to nothing before It reached them. The voices wailing faded into whispering. The boys had returned to the fold of the dead.

Unknown sat back down and listened to the dead speak.

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**A/N: **Yes you have read a new chapter! From now on I will try to deliver a new chapter every month or if not sooner. A month though is the leeway.


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